Tierra de Oportunidades is a community farm occupying a large tract of prime farmland on the banks of the Connecticut River in the Ingleside section of Holyoke. A blend of owned and leased land, the farm and gardens have evolved over the past decade to become a dynamic and highly productive complex of small farm plots managed largely by members of the city’s Hispanic community. Plans for future expansion and the need to locate new buildings and to consolidate and better organize existing uses led Nuestras Raices, a non-profit community organization to hire Dodson & Flinker, Inc. to develop a physical masterplan for the site. After extensive site visits as well as meetings with community members, gardeners and farmers, Dodson & Flinker developed a plan that increases site efficiency while preserving the small scale, character, environmental diversity and community traditions of the farm. Recommended improvements included new paths, parking areas, vehicular access, grading, drainage, stormwater management, signage, lighting and the location of proposed new buildings and festival staging areas. Due in part to the masterplan, Nuestras Raices’ won the 2008 Lewis Mumford Award for the Environment granted by Architects/Designers and Planners for Social Responsibility.
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