§ 31-H — Office of community gardens; powers; duties

§ 31-h. Office of community gardens; powers; duties. 1. The\ncommissioner shall establish within the department an office of\ncommunity gardens which shall have the authority and responsibility for\ncarrying out the provisions of this article in cooperation with the\nstate department of environmental conservation, the state education\ndepartment, the department of state, cooperative extensions and other\nstate agencies and municipalities.\n 2. The duties of the office shall include:\n a. Upon request, the office shall assist in the identification of\nvacant public land within a given geographical location and provide\ninformation regarding agency jurisdiction and the relative suitability\nof such lands for community gardening purposes;\n b. Serve as a coordinator on behalf of interested community groups and\nthe appropriate state or local agencies to facilitate the use of vacant\npublic lands for community garden use for not less than one growing\nseason by receiving and forwarding with recommendation completed\napplications to the appropriate state or municipal agency. Provided,\nfurther, that the office may develop a single recommended application\nform to be used by community groups when applying to state agencies or\nmunicipalities for use of vacant public land for community garden\npurposes;\n c. Support and encourage contact between community garden programs\nalready in existence and those programs in the initial stages of\ndevelopment;\n d. Seek and provide such assistance, to the extent funds or grants may\nbecome available, for the purposes identified in this article;\n e. Assist, support and encourage contact and cooperation between, and\nthe cooperative sharing of resources between community garden groups,\nschool garden programs and local voluntary food assistance programs,\nsuch as community food pantries, soup kitchens, senior centers, and\nother community and not-for-profit organizations that provide or\ndistribute food to the elderly, poor, and disadvantaged. Such support\ncan include the provision of surplus community garden food or other\nagricultural products to such local voluntary food assistance programs;\nand\n f. Assist, support and encourage communication, and the sharing of\nresources between community garden organizations, the New York Harvest\nFor New York Kids Week program established by the department pursuant to\nsubdivision five-b of section sixteen of this chapter and individual\nfarm-to-school and school garden programs, and, where applicable, the\ndepartment of health, the department of state, the office of children\nand family services and the division of housing and community renewal.\n