Community Garden Near H Street NE is Safe From Development for Now

(Updated at 4:35 p.m.) Residents of the H Street corridor area can continue to grow their flowers, tomatoes and other plants for at least another year in a neighborhood garden, the executive director of a nonprofit organization that owns the property said yesterday.

Kenneth J. Brewer Sr., executive director of the H Street Community Development Corp., said in an email his group doesn’t have any “immediate plans” to develop its land between 808 and 812 13th Street NE, which is home to the Wylie Street Community Garden. But his organization could “devise some prospective development project excluding a parking lot” within a year, he said.

“HSCDC maintains site control and is very interested in working with the Wylie Community Garden to find a permanent solution,” Brewer said in an email to local gardener Paige Byrne, after he met with her about the property’s future.

When reached by phone, Brewer declined to comment on his group’s possible plans for the space.

Byrne, who has tended plants in the 16-plot garden since 2006, met with Brewer after securing more than 230 supporters in a petition to “preserve the last green block on H St. corridor.” She previously had considered raising funds to buy the land after a plan was announced to turn the property into a parking lot.

She said she was happy with the meeting she had with Brewer.

“Now we can move forward working together,” Byrne said.