In a mulched clearing at the edge of the woods on Mar. 27, dozens of people donned hard hats and waited their turns to take part in a ceremonial groundbreaking for the future Homestead Gardens neighborhood. There are so many stakeholders involved that people were split up by organization to come take turns turning the dirt with the shovels.
Just a few minutes before, the large group had crossed the train tracks and walked the sidewalk along Homestead Road from the Episcopal Church of the Advocate, where as many people as possible squeezed into the small sanctuary for speakers to start the ceremony.
The event was fairly elaborate for a groundbreaking ceremony – but the Homestead Gardens community is an elaborate project itself, having taken roughly nine years to reach development…