Rockyford may have some new neighbours who are interested in forming an “Agrihood.”
A group called The Agrihood Project recently held a town hall meeting in the community on their vision of a sustainable community on the former Rockyford School site.
“It is a possibility, and it is moving along, so we are definitely hopeful,” said Anaya Lea, one of the project’s founders.
At its core, the Agrihood is a housing development for up to 24 sites built around a farm where residents of the community will contribute their labour and skill to make “farm to table” living a reality. The site would utilize the school for a sustainability centre to share knowledge.
“The focus of our project is sustainable living and we would be using it initially for temporary housing for those of us who would move out there first, but also for running courses and workshops about sustainable topics,” said Lea.
On the site, there will also be the garden area, a greenhouse for year-round agriculture and a market and community space. It is all to be set on the 4.39-acre site.
“We want to be an integrated part of the community so we are looking at the project as not only our community, but the community as a whole,” she said.
The site is currently the property of Golden Hills School Division. The Agrihood project wishes to work with the Village on acquiring the site. So far, the Village has not secured the site, but Lea says they have expressed interest to the school division for the property.
“We’ve been working with the Village all along. We think that’s advantageous because they have a vested interest in what goes on the property,” she said. “On November 2 we did a town hall meeting where we presented the project to residents for the first time and had a good turnout there and a positive response about the concept of the project. A lot of these people are farmers and business people, so they understand what it takes to put something like this together.”
Their next step is to develop a more detailed business plan.
“Obviously, we don’t want to do it if we aren’t going to be fairly certain of succeeding,” said Lea. “It is looking promising with our discussions.”
More information on the Agrihood can be found at www.agrihoodproject.com.
