City council approves funding for Agriculture Park in Columbia

Nearly half a million dollars in public money will go toward a new agriculture park and farmer’s market in Columbia. The city council unanimously approved spending for the new project Monday night.

West central Columbia will see new development of the agriculture park near West Middle School.

Every council member supported the plan for Columbia Parks and Recreation to redevelop Clary-Shy Park into a new park and facility for several farming groups. The crowd at Monday’s city council meeting applauded when the council approved it.

The approval means Columbia Parks and Recreation will give a little less than half a million dollars to the project.

The project is a collaboration between Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture, the Columbia Farmers Market and other groups. So far, they have raised $2.6 million for the ag park.

The first phase includes grading the site, running utilities and building a pavilion for the farmers market to use.

Adam Saunders with Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture said this will work well next to the ARC, and improve the health of the those in the city.

“The ARC is a great investment in health through physical activity,” said Saunders. “The ag park will be an investment in food, in healthy food, to buy fresh produce, to learn about where food comes from, to access fresh produce.”

Bill Polansky with CCUA told ABC 17 News it will take an additional $1.5 million to build phase two, which is an on-site farm and offices for the group there.

They expect construction to start for phase one this winter.