Great news for the Ballard P-Patch: a loan has been secured to allow the gardeners to buy the 1.66-acre parcel from Our Redeemer’s Lutheran Church.
The P-Patch gardeners were able to obtain a loan from Verity Credit Union, and their fiscal sponsor/ land conservancy organization GROW Northwest formally purchased the land from Our Redeemer’s. GROW also owns and co-owns six other properties in Seattle’s P-Patch program.
The Seattle Department of Neighborhoods still manages the property, but it’s now much closer to being fully “saved” from development.
The Ballard P-Patch has two years to pay off their loan, and are still working on the $300,000 that will qualify the group for the full $1.25 million Conservation Futures Tax (CFT) matching grant from King County.
Another milestone will come this November when the King County Council is expected to vote on funding the Ballard P-Patch’s $1.25 million CFT request.
“We are so grateful to Jeanne Kohl-Welles and her staff, to our entire Washington State Legislative team, and to each and every one of our volunteers who have pitched in to make this seemingly impossible project a reality,” Ballard P-Patch co-chair Cindy Krueger wrote in an email to the garden members last week.
To help complete their fundraising, the Ballard P-Patch is holding a virtual 5K fun run Sept. 25 – 27. You can sign up to participate online, and donations can also be made anytime here.