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Many of Philadelphia's community gardens are at risk of being lost to development.
But a new state law could give gardeners who tend land they don't own a shortcut to title by simply tending the abandoned property for more than 10 years.
“Many of Philadelphia's community gardens are at risk of being evicted from the vacant lots they have cared for for years, which would otherwise be left abandoned in the middle of neighborhoods,” Ryan Gitler Muniz, an environmental justice activist at the Public Interest Law Center, the nonprofit that pushed for the reforms, said in a statement. “This is a real step forward that recognizes the incredible contributions the people who build these spaces have made to our city.”
Here are three things you need to know about the new law.
By using the land continuously, you can halve the time it takes to own the land.
The law, signed by Gov. Josh Shapiro earlier this month, makes it easier for Philadelphia gardeners to take title to land using a legal procedure called unfair possession.
“Squatter occupation is something that's been around for a very long time,” said Mimi MacKenzie, legal director at the Public Interest Law Centre, which has represented several gardens seeking land titles under the old law. “At its core is the idea that it's really important that the land is being used.”
To obtain ownership through unlawful occupation, a gardener or organisation must manage the land for a period of time and then apply for ownership of the land.
Pennsylvania currently requires that a gardener must have occupied the property for 21 years before he can seek unlawful possession.
The new law, which comes into force in September, reduces the period of active garden use to 10 years, of which five years must have been spent on the land. The gardener must then notify the landowner, who has a year to challenge the gardener's claim.
“The recognition that the Decade is a significant community investment and deserves a pathway to ownership is a great step for Philadelphia's gardens and green spaces,” Theresa Elliott, executive director of the Norris Square Neighborhood Project, said in a statement. “We hope this new legislation will encourage continued support for eminent domain at the local level and make it easier to protect community gardens in rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods like ours.”
But Migdalia Mendez, who has lived in Norris Square for more than 35 years, worries that the shorter law will favor people who are “just starting out” in vacant lot care, rather than those who have been doing it for years, like her. She started cleaning up trash and reporting abandoned cars on two vacant lots next to her home in the early '90s. Her husband fenced off the lots, and she used them to park her car, grow sofrito and other vegetables, and play with her grandchildren.
She successfully applied for title to one of the squatted plots last year but is now facing a challenge from the owner's heirs. She is currently applying for title to the other squatted plot. She fears that if the plot is sold, developers will build a new house and further damage her house. According to her, her house has cracked after a new house was built opposite.
“We are the people who manage vacant land that the owners no longer need. … But now … everyone is selling it to build huge houses,” Mendez said. “We hope that all the people who are fighting for the land next to their houses will get it. … We have to be in the lead.”
