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Regular City Council Meeting Monday, May 24, 2010 Page 10 ty outreach portion, originally intended to be offered to members of an immigrant portion of the community having a history of farming (i.e., Karen community), but that they had not been able to participate at this time. At that time, Ms. Spear noted that they had moved onto the neighborhood to determine their interest. Ms. Spear advised that there was never any intent by the church to not involve the neighborhood; however, she noted that the leaders of this effort were all volun- teers. Ms. Spear advised that flyers were distributed by those volunteers to adja- cent neighbors, with two meetings hosted by them on May 1 and May 2, 2010 to gather community input; at which time, the neighbors provided their comments, many of which were "not in my backyard (NIMBY)" under any conditions, and others who were very supportive. Ms. Spear admitted that it was a very spirited meeting, with many strong opinions voiced, a number of whom were also present at tonight's meeting. Ms. Spear assured neighbors and the City Council that they had attempted to involve the neighborhood, with this being the third public meet- ing on this issue. Ms. Spear advised that it was the Church's intent to do the right thing, whatever that meant, and that they were open to the findings of the City Council as to whether staffs interpretation was correct, or if there was a need to proceed with a Conditional Use application, which they were willing to do. Ms. Spear advised that members of their congregation who's careers were as attorneys had reviewed the Twin Cities Community Garden Start-up Guide, reviewed NCPC liability in- surance and deemed it sufficient; and had also reviewed the location of the gar- dens, nuisance issues, parking and traffic issues, and determined they were all suf- ficiently addressed. Ms. Spear assured the City Council and neighbors that the church wanted to be a good neighbor and try to accommodate and facilitate any concerns of the neighbors, including those who are interested in a local communi- ty garden. Ms. Spear noted that the purpose of a church is to gather people; and offered to cut back the number of plots the first year as things were worked out, and for the community garden to be ultimately successful. Ms. Spear provided the proposed sod cuts and garden plot templates, continually revised by their landscape archi- tect to address any concerns. Ms. Spear advised that the compost pile had been removed; however, she clarified that the compost was natural, clean compost of plant materials, not manure, to provide seed-free nutrients to be plowed back into t11e garden, and did not smell. Ms. Spear assured Councilmembers that NCPC was willing to work with staff, and neighbors, to improve or correct any traffic or safety issues; and again ex- pressed their commitment to make the community garden work. Discussion among Councilmembers and Ms. Spear included identifying the total number of staff-approved garden plots at 24 - 26, depending on the final configu- ration; and that 2 plots had been dedicated for food shelf product; and raised beds