COLUMBIA STREET WATERFRONT DISTRICT — The South Brooklyn Children's Garden, along with dozens of other green spaces across the city, has been saved from future demolition, officials said.
"We're hugely excited," Sunshine Flint, a garden planner for South Brooklyn Children's Garden, told DNAinfo. "This has been our goal."
The popular community garden, created in 2012, is known for its kids' classes and annual Harvest Festival, which includes a pie contest.
The green space at 202 Columbia St. at Sackett Street is one of 34 community gardens that was permanently transferred to the city's Department of Parks and Recreation with support from the city's GreenThumb Program.
"The Garden is now an NYC Park," organizers declared on the children's garden's website, adding that it will now be "permanently preserved as a community garden."
Through the agreement, the gardens will be deemed "parkland," according to advocacy group 596 Acres which has been working to save the green spaces. The designation would require city agencies to seek approval from the state Legislature before the garden can be used for other purposes.
Another Columbia Street site, Pirate's Cove Community Garden, is also now controlled by the Parks Department as a permanent public green space.
Last summer, the Children's Garden also partnered with Food Bank For New York and donated 150 pounds of organic produce, Flint said. They also help organize field trips with local schools and gardening classes with City Growers for children ages 2 to 6 years of age.
With land and real estate at a "premium" in the neighborhood, the announcement was welcome news to the neighborhood, Flint said.
"It's really wonderful and we're grateful to everyone who has worked towards it," she said.
