Residents fight to save community garden

Some Brooklyn residents are fighting to save a community garden that a developer wants to turn into a high-end condominium building. After the previous owner died in 1990, the Maple Street Community

News 12 Staff

Apr 28, 2016, 7:01 AM

Updated 3,164 days ago

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Some Brooklyn residents are fighting to save a community garden that a developer wants to turn into a high-end condominium building.
After the previous owner died in 1990, the Maple Street Community Garden essentially became a junkyard until 2012 when neighbors grew tired of the way it looked and began taking care of it.
A developer, who purchased the property through a tax lien sale years ago, wants to put a five-story building in place of the garden. Neighbors are hoping the city will step in to make the garden public property.
The gardeners found living heirs to the last property owner and are now fighting the developer over who owns the property.
News 12 reached out to the Parks Department and was that the department is appreciative of the work the community garden members and remains interested in keeping the space open to the public.
The attorney for the gardeners says the developer claims to have purchased the property from the owner's heir, but a judge has called into question the authenticity of that deed.
The gardeners have located living heirs and are fighting the developer in state Supreme Court.
While the gardeners wait for the legal process to play out in court, they are hoping the city will step in to buy the property through eminent domain and keep the community garden for generations to come.
News 12 also reached out to the developers' attorney and is waiting for a response.