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Gardeners ask Clayton County to reconsider plan to remove Gerald Matthews Community Garden
Summary
Garden members told commissioners the county told them on Feb. 10 to remove materials by March 1; gardeners, many of them seniors, asked for reconsideration or at least an extension to May or June to harvest crops and remove materials, and said they had invested $200–$400 per plot.
Multiple speakers at the Feb. 17 meeting urged Clayton County officials to reverse or delay a recent decision to remove the Gerald Matthews Community Garden in Hampton.
Chastity Rowe, speaking for the Gerald Matthews Community Garden, said gardeners received notice on Feb. 10 requiring removal of all materials by March 1. Rowe said the timeline is unreasonable because many gardeners — nearly 90% of members, she said — are seniors with crops that will not mature before the removal date and that individual gardeners spent approximately $200–$400 per plot on improvements.
Alice Williams described the garden’s personal and family benefits, including providing fresh produce for relatives with cancer, and proposed a structured intergenerational gardening program that would pair seniors with youth and preserve garden plots as a long-term county resource.
Gardeners asked the board either to reconsider the decision to remove the garden or to provide a suitable replacement location and at minimum to extend the removal deadline to May or June to allow harvest and orderly deconstruction. The board acknowledged the request during public comment and said the remaining speakers would be taken at the next meeting; no formal board decision on the garden removal was recorded during this meeting.
Speakers urged the county to consider public benefits the garden provides, including food pantry donations and community engagement, and asked for transition planning rather than immediate removal.
