This week the Frogtown Farm design team presented three site plan and programming options at an evening meeting at Jackson Elementary in Frogtown. Many attendees were familiar with the night’s facilitor — actor and singer T Mychael Rambo — who led the meeting with song and call-and-response. (Thanks to the Trust for Public Land for supporting the meeting with his services!) This was the first official combined meeting of the Farm design team and the City of Saint Paul Parks & Rec Department, and the plans for the park-and-farm were presented together, as the unified whole that we hope to make them.
The design team’s architect, John Dwyer, describes ‘Option A’
Despite bitter cold and snow piling up outside, several dozen people attended the meeting and dove into an enthusiastic discussion of the plans. Each option contained elements that have received support in previous presentations and with the Farm’s Design Advisory Committee (DAC), so the exercise of the evening involved creative analysis of the possible combinations that could be made from the various plans.
The team also presented three programming options, dubbed:
- The Frogtown Farm Enterprise Co-Op
- The Frogtown Specialty Farm
- The Frogtown Farm Hub
…and asked attendees to consider which of the three would provide the best economic and organizational roadmap for the Farm. (See the ‘Meeting Record‘ tab for detailed descriptions of each programming option.) Unlike the farm site designs, the programming options were presented as options that should be pursued whole — as opposed to mix-and-match. Why? Because a clear and coherent programming strategy will be crucial to moving the Farm forward in the first few years.
We stop for a snack break before splitting up into 5 stations to talk about the site options, programming, and phasing.
The design team got lots of great feedback, which we will be digesting in the coming days to arrive at a single site plan and program strategy. You can view the “raw” comments on the meetings page here, along with the actual boards and people’s written notes. If you weren’t able to attend the meeting, we hope you’ll catch up and see what people wrote.
What’s the next step? The team will be preparing the final site design and presenting it at our January 4th celebration, 1-4pm, once again at Jackson Elementary. We hope to see you there!
The team’s crackerjack soil ecologist, Jake Voit, breaks down the nuances of loam!
Community Ambassadors Abdi and Chong staff the program feedback station.
Writing comments on ‘Option B’
Frogtown Farm Master Plan 