Haller Lake P-Patch Faces Uncertain Future

Sep 7

2 min read

By Eric Todderud

For nearly three decades, Haller Lake United Methodist Church has generously hosted the Haller Lake P-Patch on a portion of its grounds in North Seattle. A combination of missional alignment, neighborhood changes, and financial pressures have led the church to sell portions of its property, including the land under the Haller Lake P-Patch.

The church has selected Habitat for Humanity, a developer of affordable housing where residents own their homes, as a partner in this effort. GROW and the P-Patch office of the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods are working with the church to explore whether the Haller Lake P-Patch could be permanently protected as green space for the neighborhood and used as a P-Patch.

The Haller Lake P-Patch is located on a little more than a quarter acre of land in an established residential area. The P-Patch contains 52 garden beds, and the gardeners reflect a diverse cross-section of community members. A few of the current gardeners helped build the garden and have been gardening there since the late 1990s, when the neighborhood garden was accepted into Seattle’s P-Patch Program.

GROW is exploring the possibility of buying the garden site from the church. Church leaders are working with us to determine if we can proceed without disrupting the development of affordable housing that the church supports and the neighborhood needs.

Recently, GROW began looking for funding sources and taking other steps necessary to work toward a purchase. GROW’s “secret weapon” in this effort is the involvement of new board member Cindy Krueger, who spearheaded the successful effort to save the Ballard P-Patch several years ago.

While things are very preliminary, GROW and the gardeners are heartened by the church's continued willingness to accommodate the garden and work with GROW toward a win-win solution.

We will keep you updated on our progress. If you can provide financial support toward this important effort, please don’t hesitate to reach out.