FLOOD BUY-OUT LAND TO BECOME COMMUNITY GARDEN

In the aftermath of the floods of 1993 and 1995, Cape Girardeau bought 81 properties as part of a federally funded flood buy-out program.

For the first time, someone has put some of those properties to use.

Americorps has started a community garden on three lots in the 1100 block of Main Street in the Red Star neighborhood.

The idea is to provide garden space for people who would otherwise be unable to have gardens.

"We hope to involve people in the neighborhood," said Gloria Jenkins, an Americorps volunteer on the project. "It will give an opportunity for people in apartments to have a garden."

Americorps struck a deal with the City Council last month to use the three lots' half acre. The city retained ownership.

Last Wednesday, Americorps volunteer Laurie Whaley drove a truckload of manure to the site from Bollinger County. Thursday, Americorps volunteers tilled the site.

Plans call for Americorps volunteers to plant fall crops -- pumpkins and squash -- and to donate the harvest to food pantries, the Salvation Army and the monthly St. Vincent's Vittles Dinner, said Americorps volunteer Karel Edgar.

Edgar said plans call for apportioning 4-by-12-foot plots to the community next year with 3-foot-wide paths in between. People can ask for more than one, Jenkins said. Eventually, plans call for raised beds accessible to people in wheelchairs.

Those cultivating the plots will pay a nominal fee. Americorps volunteers will weed, pick up litter and water the site each week.

Tenants will be required to maintain their plots, including checking for weeds and surplus crops. Americorps would take away neglected plots and turn them over to other gardeners, Edgar said.

"Americorps members will coordinate garden upkeep for a minimum of two years, after which responsibility will be transferred to local community leaders," Jenkins and Edgar said in a written statement to the City Council.

"It's a way to get the community together," Edgar said. "You can't lose with a vacant lot."

Ken Eftink, who coordinates the city's flood buy-out program, said federal law restricts the uses of the land in the buy-out program.

"The only closed structure we can build on it is a restroom," Eftink said.

The flood-plain area was under water in 1993. After that flood, the landowners used federal funds to tear down their houses on the lots, Eftink said. The city bought the lots using federal and state buy-out money earlier this year. Under the rules, the city can't sell the land but can lease it.

The city has no plans yet for the other properties, Eftink said. A committee convened by the city's Convention and Visitors Bureau Advisory Board is studying whether to put a recreational vehicle park on buy-out land in the Red Star area.