Wyandotte City Attorney William Look (left) said in light of recent legal precedents he does not believe that the city would face legal repercussions for entering into a lease agreement with Wyandotte Family Church to administer the community garden in Green Belt Park, as Mayor Robert DeSana listens during the April 22 City Council meeting.
By SUE SUCHYTA
Sunday Times Newspapers
WYANDOTTE – When the city’s Beautification Commission voted on Feb. 1 to cut ties with the city’s community garden, an agreement with Wyandotte Family Church seemed like the answer to a prayer.
Others in the city, however, were concerned that a religious organization leasing city land and administering a public program raised other concerns and could violate the basic premise of the separation of church and state.
After holding the request in abeyance at the April 8 City Council meeting based on the council’s request for more information, the lease and administrative agreement was brought to a vote and approved during the April 22 council meeting.
The idea took shape when a representative from Wyandotte Family Church, 1165 Ford Ave., contacted city officials about empty lots that could be used to develop a community garden. Mayor Robert DeSana and City Administrator Rob McMahon then met with the Rev. Jeremy Gyorke and proposed that the church and its members lease the Green Belt Park space near Grove Street and Biddle Avenue, the existing community garden, which the Beautification Commission had overseen in the past.
The one-year lease agreement, which runs through April 22, 2025, established a $1 lease payment for the time period. The church, however, is responsible for obtaining liability insurance for the activities on the site, to absolve the city from the responsibility.
The community garden agreement stipulates that it must remain open to the general public during normal park hours, and that the church organization will maintain all areas of the community garden inside of the fence, including disposing of any organic and non-organic waste materials at the site.
Members of Wyandotte Family church and other community members attend the April 22 City Council meeting to weigh in on the city’s lease agreement with Wyandotte Family Church to administer the community garden in Green Belt Park, following the Beautification Commission ending its involvement, amid concerns by some residents that the agreement violates the separation of church and state.
The agreement stipulates that church members will make up to 15 beds available to the general public for the use of people who are not affiliated with Wyandotte Family Church. Prior year community gardeners in good standing would be given priority application status.
If more than 15 members of the public apply for the beds not reserved for church members, a lottery system would be used to allocate the remaining plots.
A yearly maintenance fee not to exceed $10 may be charged to members of the general public who are awarded a community garden plot.
Church members who attended the April 22 council meeting sought to reassure community members that they were seeking a public service project that could help provide food for local food pantries, and expressed that they did not intend to share their religious beliefs at the community garden, nor attempt to encourage non-affiliated gardeners to join their church.
Non-church members expressed concern that the city did not adequately publicize the need for a new volunteer group to administer the needs of the community garden, which might have generated other applicants, included non-sectarian non-profit groups.
Others expressed concern that the garden might be administered by a group which could adhere to a belief system different than their own.
Other commenters expressed broader concerns about the separation of church and state, which is mentioned in the first amendment to the U.S. Constitution and states that Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion.
To view the April 22 council meeting and public debate on the community garden administration, go to vimeo.com/938325823 and go to the 8 minute 37 second portion of the recording.