Council holds stewardship package after detailed questions on leases, maintenance and ownership pathways

City Council members and planning staff on Wednesday discussed a five‑piece stewardship package intended to expand opportunities for community gardening, greenway stewardship and longer‑term use of city‑owned parcels — then agreed to hold the bills for one week to resolve questions about leases, cleanup and paths to ownership.

City planning staff led the presentation. Andrew Dash, deputy director of city planning, said the package includes amendments to the Adopt‑A‑Lot program, a $25,000 grant to acquire tax‑delinquent parcels to improve greenway connectivity, a new City Farms/Garden program to authorize leases in parks, formalization of a Greenways program and updates to park property‑use regulations. Isabella Gross and McKenzie Puskovic joined the briefing and answered council questions about toolkit details and lease terms.

Several community groups and nonprofits testified in support. "I am delighted to stand before you all today to provide my strong recommendation that council approve the stewardship package," said Dora Wamsley, deputy director of Grow Pittsburgh, who described Grow Pittsburgh’s work since 2013 to expand community gardens, materials grants and an insurance pool for adopt‑a‑lot growers. Mera Veu, a parks and conservation planner with Trust for Public Land, urged adoption as a way to bring long‑term stewardship and connectivity to green spaces. Thomas Gner, director of land stewardship at Landforce, described the organization’s workforce and maintenance work and said the ordinance would streamline permissions that now slow stewardship projects.

Council members praised the goals but pressed for specifics. Councilwoman Gross said the package reflects years of work and local investment: "in my district alone, we've planted 600 trees," she said, arguing the changes would build on that momentum and on recent city investments in equipment and technical assistance. Councilwoman Warwick and others pressed planning staff and the administration on who would be responsible for ongoing litter removal and invasive species control on hillside greenways, saying ad hoc volunteer cleanups are insufficient. "That feels like a city. It feels like our job as the city," Warwick said, urging clearer DPW involvement and sustainable funding for maintenance.

Staff and the presenters said the changes keep Adopt‑A‑Lot’s one‑year lease and three‑year renewal structure but expand allowable uses (public art, community space, food forestry and similar activities), create longer‑term lease opportunities in the new City Farms/Garden program for permanently city‑owned park parcels, and rely on a program toolkit (to be published after council action) to record operational details such as notice periods and administrative procedures. Dash and McKenzie said the city will pursue grants to support nonprofit stewards and that designation of greenway parcels will come as follow‑up legislation with parcel‑level maps.

After more than three hours of testimony and questioning, Council voted to hold all five bills in the stewardship package (bills 562, 564, 565, 566 and 567) for one week to give council offices, planning staff and outside partners time to resolve outstanding toolkit, maintenance and ownership questions. The hold was moved and approved by voice vote.

Council members said the extra week will be used to publish the toolkit, clarify the city finance/land bank pathways to purchase for long‑standing stewards and to work with the Department of Public Works on a realistic maintenance plan for designated greenways. Planning staff offered to meet with council offices and community groups as the package is refined.

The committee discussion was the most substantive item on the day’s standing committee agenda; the stewardship package will return to committee after the one‑week hold. The next formal step is for staff to supply the requested toolkit language and parcel maps and for council to reconvene on the package.