QUEENS — A community group wants to turn what they say is a neglected parcel that belongs to the MTA into a community garden in an attempt to get more green space in the Forest Hills-Rego Park area.
The organization — the Forest-Rego Compost Collective, a non-profit neighborhood initiative promoting public green space — wants to clear the area behind the Home Depot on Woodhaven Boulevard of poison ivy and trash and transform it into a greenspace.
“We’ve been looking for places to do community gardens around the neighborhood and there aren’t that many open lots in Forest Hills and Rego Park,” said Jeremy Teperman from the group.
He also said the project is at the very early stage of planning.
The parcel belongs to the MTA and it’s adjacent to rarely used LIRR tracks, the group said.
It’s also densely wooded and Teperman said it would not be used like other community gardens for growing fruits and vegetables.
“But we hope to beautify it in some way, remove the debris, plant some plants and make it look nicer,” Teperman said.
The MTA said they are reviewing the idea.
“We have heard there is interest in repurposing the space as a community garden, but before it were to be used as one, we would need make sure that is feasible, and does not interfere with LIRR operations or planned uses the railroad may have for the space,” Aaron Donovan, a spokesman for the MTA said in an e-mail.
“We are in the process of determining whether it is operationally feasible for use as a garden.”
