City strikes deal with gardener to grow anew in South Park

After months of friction between Port Huron leaders and a neighborhood gardener, the city has struck a deal that’ll allow him to expand his mission to grow local produce while leaving building lots for new housing.

During Monday’s meeting, City Council members signed off on a lease agreement with First Church of Music LLC, whose proprietor Julian Ruck mans the community garden Polly’s Place at 1423 Lapeer Ave., for three vacant parcels on 27th Street on the city’s south side.

Under the agreement, Ruck, a vocal advocate of community gardening and an occasional council critic, would gain access to South Park parcels where a section of 27th dead-ends north of Nern Street. In turn, the city would gain access to the Lapeer property, as well as another plot at 1023 Miller St. The lease would cost $1 a year over a 10-year term.

City Manager James Freed called the arrangement “a win-win” at once contributing to a solution to end food insecurity and address the local housing shortage.

“Mr. Ruck owns two properties within Port Huron on buildable lots in neighborhoods where there’s not a lot of buildable lots,” the administrator said, referencing Ruck’s properties around Harrison Pointe. “And so, this agreement is contingent upon the Port Huron Neighborhood Housing Corporation purchasing those two lots for the purpose of constructing a home whether the (housing corp.) constructs those homes themselves or works with Habitat for Humanity to build two new homes within the city of Port Huron.”

The garden Ruck newly establishes on 27th Street would remain Polly’s Place, officials said, and also come with the moving of 100 yards of soil from the current location on Lapeer to help seed the new effort.

Freed said he’d been in recent contact with Ruck, allowing them to reach a deal, and that they were looking for ways to help Ruck expand his capacity from what he averages a year in produce at “about 4,000 pounds that’s donated and given away to the community.”

However, in addition to the housing needs, he said the next location also helps meet goals among community organizers in South Park.

“We just had a briefing from the (Southside) Neighborhood Improvement Authority that the number one and number two priorities identified in their 225-respondent community feedback was food access and food insecurity,” Freed said.

Ruck said it was nearly four years ago when he set out on a broader mission to end local food insecurity — with an “as soon as possible” requisite and methodology that, he admitted, “ruffled some feathers along the way.”

“But I’m confident that today through conversation in good faith with James Freed … we have found a proposal and agreement that makes me feel as though we are sticking true to that as soon as possible,” he said. “Though we have struggled to get here, had we not struggled and had been just fine, this deal that’s up for (a) vote today is where we would be.”

Ruck has frequently pushed back against city leaders in the past, particularly around the outdoor kitchen he’d installed at Polly’s Place that officials said violated zoning rules without a primary residence or structure on site.

The gardener briefly appealed a zoning board decision in 2023 but has said he was hopeful for a resolution around the start of the new year.

Councilman Jeff Pemberton referenced the past tension — close to a year after he’d vowed not to work with Ruck at a past meeting — calling himself an “out loud proponent” now instead.

“There was a day from this very seat where I said, ‘We will not ever partner with Mr. Ruck.’ So, today, I’m eating those words because I’ll be voting yes on this,” Pemberton said Monday. “I want to say I think this addresses the needs. I think the issues of being a good neighbor, being able to be a spot where it works and works well for the neighborhood. … And I really am hopeful. I appreciate that you’ve worked with Mr. Freed and turned a corner together.”

Moving forward, Ruck said he encouraged people to reach out to him or Polly’s Place via Facebook, as he hoped to engage with neighbors in South Park in the delivery of free produce in the area in addition to an educational phase about gardening to make the practice more commonplace for residents.

He pointed to an April 30 volunteer day at another garden as an example, adding of the 27th Street deal, “I do believe this is a blank canvas with all the paints.”

Freed said the educational piece and Ruck sharing his expertise were a big benefit that attracted the city to consider the deal, and he recalled the city giving away thousands of seed packets to residents early in the pandemic.

“That was kind of like a bellwether that there was some serious community interest in gardening,” he said.

Despite the term of the lease agreement, Ruck said he didn’t necessarily intend to garden at 27th Street for all 10 years. He said he understands he's a guest in the neighborhood and pointed to the nearby Shiloh Baptist Church as an example “to inherit what I install once it’s viable.”

Either way, he said he thought that urban and backyard gardening can be looked at “as almost an industry that Port Huron is poised to be a leader of.”

Contact Jackie Smith at (810) 989-6270 or jssmith@gannett.com.