Hopatcong Community Garden Plans Revived

Heidi Dolan won’t let Alice King’s dream fade away.

The 47-year-old King, who was in October, wanted to in Hopatcong. Dolan, one of King’s closest friends, has spearheaded a group that hopes to open the garden as early as the spring.

“[King] was very passionate about it,” Dolan said.

Preliminary plans place the garden on Maxim Drive, near the borough’s and behind a bus stop. The group would host an informational meeting 7:30 p.m. Jan 12 at the , said Sharon Gruber, an environmental commission member.

Lots will probably be 10-by-15 or 20 feet and will cost members a yet-to-be established fee, said Gruber, who added there could be room for as many as 80 lots.

The location is ideal because its size, visibility, ability to host a parking lot and proximity to a water line, Mayor Sylvia Petillo said. The group also explored locations near the Hopatcong Plaza and Hopatcong Senior Citizens Center, Gruber said.

“We looked all over and it seems to be the perfect place,” Petillo said.

Hopatcong will join Roxbury and Byram as area towns with community gardens. The group visited Roxbury’s as a source of inspiration, Dolan said.

Dolan, Gruber and Petillo each said the garden will only go as far as the support it receives from borough residents.

“A lot of it depends on the interest level of the community,” Gruber said. “Another part depends on how we can raise money to cover some of the fixed expenses that come along with it, mainly fencing and signage.

“You need fencing with the size of the deer population we have. You have to have fencing so the deer can’t jump into your garden. Then people are going to want to have separations between everybody’s plots.”

King presented the idea to Hopatcong’s council in April. That night, King said she saw the garden “in my dreams.”

"It becomes a very social endeavor," she said at the time. "People come in and have a barbecue. It really becomes a community event, a social event. People gather just as much for the social activity as they do for the gardens."

Dolan and King talked often about the project, said Dolan, who added she was “still in shock” over King’s death. “But I would have to say within I had said to my husband (Michael) this is going to be my calling to make sure this gets through for her.”

That the idea of the garden was King’s isn’t enough for Dolan, who said she wants to place a small memorial to her friend in the garden. There will most likely be a piece of wrought iron fence from King’s home garden placed inside the garden, Dolan said.

“Her passing was very tragic for us and in her memory I’m looking to make sure this garden gets going,” Dolan said.

Editor's note: Email hopatcongcommunitygarden@gmail.com for more information.

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