CHICAGO — Community gardens on the South Side are facing an uphill battle this summer as many struggle to secure basic access to water — a situation worsened by bureaucratic delays and city permitting issues.
From Englewood to Bronzeville, neighborhood stewards say they’ve had to rely on makeshift solutions to keep crops alive during an already difficult growing season. At OTIS Fresh Farm, co-lead Mabel Gladly shared how the garden once had access to water from a nearby glass shop — but that changed last year when the building changed ownership and access was suddenly revoked.
“We’ve been hauling drums of water block by block,” Gladly said. “And the city owns most of the land we grow on — we just need access to the hydrant out front.”
Barriers To Hydrant Use
For OTIS and others, the ideal fix would be a permit allowing them to tap into a nearby fire hydrant. But that request — made more than a year ago — was never approved. According to Gladly, Ald. Stephanie Coleman (16th) did not sign off on the permit despite multiple meetings.
“This is the result of aldermanic prerogative and a limited understanding of how much food community gardens produce,” she said. “We feed dozens of families every week.”
Meanwhile, Cedillo’s Fresh Produce in Englewood has been without hydrant access at one of its gardens since 2020, when an open hydrant incident on Memorial Day led the city to cap it. Co-founder Dulce Margarita Morales said the team now drags hoses from a half-block away — a task that takes two hours each time.
“We stopped leaving hoses at the site. Too many were stolen,” Morales added.
City Website Failure Compounded Issues
The situation escalated in May when the city’s hydrant permit website crashed, leaving gardeners across the city scrambling. For weeks, there was no way to submit or pay for new permit applications online. Some resorted to paper processing, but many lost valuable growing time during the delay.
Even now, fire hydrant caps cost $950 to remove, and gardens are responsible for the charge — even if misuse wasn’t their fault. The permit process itself can take months, requiring a letter of support from an alderperson, liability insurance, and city plumbing assessments.
Support From Local Nonprofits
Groups like NeighborSpace, which help manage land for community gardens, have been stepping in to guide residents through the permitting maze. Assistant Director Robin Cline emphasized how complex the process has become since 2021, when the city began enforcing insurance, legal agreements, and pressure zone certifications for all hydrant use.
“The process is overwhelming for many. We help with every step — from insurance to RPZ testing — but we need the city systems to better communicate internally too,” Cline said.
With temperatures already pushing into near-record highs, the lack of water access may seriously affect this year’s harvests — a blow to families relying on free, local produce.
What do you think the city should do to support local food growers? Share your thoughts in the comments at ChicagoSuburbanFamily.com.
