Earlier this month, the Dayton City Commission approved a development agreement with the Greater Edgemont Community Coalition to help fund improvements to its solar garden, located at 911 Miami Chapel Road.
The city has awarded the coalition an $85,000 grant to help pay for new machinery, equipment, furniture, fixtures, lighting, signage and greenhouse improvements.
The money will help expand the community garden and its agricultural education initiative, city documents say.
The coalition expects to invest about $115,000 into the community solar garden, and the city’s contribution comes from the West Dayton Development Trust Fund.
“The continued success of the Edgemont solar garden is critical to the revitalization and stabilization of the Edgemont neighborhood,” said Dayton City Manager Shelley Dickstein.
The city said expanding the garden’s grow operation will allow it to provide fresh produce to local residents and nonprofit groups such as Homefull and the Gem City Market.
The Greater Edgemont Community Coalition also plans to plant sunflowers on vacant lots, which will help improve their appearance and remediate lead in the soil, Ross said.
Sunflowers can help remove, stabilize and destroy some contaminants in soil.
Edgemont Solar Garden opened in 1980 on the site of an old envelope factory.
The project was the first of many organized community gardens in Dayton, according to news reports from the time, and its plots helped community members grow vegetables instead of having to purchase them at the store.
The garden improved access to healthy foods in an area that many people say is a food desert. Some gardeners sold their surplus vegetables.
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