American City & County’s Crown Communities

Parks
Glen Park
Encinitas, Calif.

When eight-year councilwoman and former mayor of Encinitas, Calif., Teresa Arballo Barth retired in 2012, her colleagues wanted to find a unique way to honor and recognize her civic service. During her tenure with the city, Barth was a tireless advocate for environmental stewardship and small-scale local agriculture.

It was decided that a fruit grove would be planted in Barth’s honor. The city planned to plant the grove in Glen Park, a greenspace in the former mayor’s neighborhood of Cardiff-by-the-Sea. Volunteers donated both time and money.

The Cardiff 101 Mainstreet Association offered to manage donations and worked with the city to secure the permits. A local non-profit, the Healthy Day Partners, volunteered to use their knowledge of local agriculture and organic gardening to design the grove, as well as secure the appropriate trees for the region.

“A city communicates its values through what we plant in our parks. When kids see a fruit grove in a park, they have the opportunity to witness how food grows and what our native climate and environment can produce,” Deputy Mayor Catherine Blakespear says. “This project demonstrates the city’s commitment to healthy, local food and provides residents with an interactive, expansive park experience.”

The city also partnered with the San Diego County Water Authority, which provided an $8,510 turf-removal grant for water conservation, as the grove would replace a considerable amount of water-thirsty ground covering.
Shortly thereafter, based on a resident’s concern about using harmful pesticides in city parks, council decided Glen Park should play host to a pesticide-free pilot program to test the feasibility of maintaining the park without the use of toxic chemicals.

The two projects culminated in October 2015, when the park was declared pesticide free and the Teresa Arballo Barth Fruit Grove was planted.

In the future, Healthy Day Partners will teach on-site workshops where residents will learn how to care for their own trees by helping to prune and maintain the grove — all with the intent of helping them appreciate where their food comes from.

The city estimates that the water-savings offered by planting the fruit grove and using organic pest deterrents will save the city $4,000 a year in reduced maintenance costs.

“This is especially meaningful to me as my grandfather, Loreto Arballo, was a farmer and had fruit trees in his garden,” Barth says.