Students and volunteers are paying for Carleton’s bad planning.
The university has announced it will build a private residence on the site of the Graduate Students’ Association’s (GSA) community garden. The garden will be relocated with the tab picked up by the university.
This is an unnecessary expense to incur for the university and for whom the burden ultimately falls on: students.
The campus master plan shows that the land the garden is on will eventually be residences. The plan was made in 2010 and the agreement to give the GSA land for the garden was made in 2012.
While the master plan is not binding, the university should have had some indication that the space would eventually be needed.
With Carleton’s student population booming and residence wait lists getting longer every year, it is no surprise that the university will have to build another residence.
It is surprising that they would give the GSA the land for the garden, and after only one-and-a-half-years tell them it will need to be relocated.
It is unfair to the GSA and the volunteers who worked on the garden to have to pack up and leave.
Good gardening depends on an investment of time, energy, and accumulated knowledge of the land.
The relocation means the garden is a year behind schedule, with most of what was learned now obsolete.
Carleton needs to give the community garden a long-term home, and soon: it’s almost time for the garlic to go in.
