Reading hopes to bring the greenhouse back to life.

Kyle Zeiber, director of public works operations, introduced the city council's plan to reopen the city park greenhouse.

"We want to find ways to interact with the community," Zeber said Monday night. "It's not just for one thing, but for education, demonstration, planting and use in our urban agriculture. This is the beginning of everything."

Zeiber said the city has set up a working group among key stakeholders to study a plan to restore plants to the greenhouse and find sources of funding to achieve this goal.

Zeiber said the team is composed of the United States Department of Agriculture, Berks County Department of Agriculture, Berks County Conservation Area and the University of Alvinia. He said that other stakeholders will be added.

Zeiber said that an engineering company has begun to evaluate the greenhouse and everything needed to make it a community center, noting that they want to receive grants to provide the necessary funds.

The City Council supports the revitalization of the greenhouse.

Congresswoman Marcia Goodman-Hinnershitz and Congresswoman Lucine Sihelnik pledged to support the project.

"This is just a good continuation of the work that has been moving forward and looking for a suitable greenhouse for the future," Sihelnik said.

The greenhouse has been unoccupied since it was operated by former city councilman and Permacultivate president Brian Twyman in 2018.

Permaculitvate, an urban agricultural non-profit tenant and administrator of the site, received an eviction notice from the city government in the summer of 2018.

Twyman said at the time that former City Managing Director W. Glenn Steckman III and Mayor Wally Scott had ordered the expulsion.

Steckman claimed at the time that Permacultivate had never rented the building and that the organization took up space for longer than the city contract usually allowed.

Steckman added that there are no other agreements other than the memorandum of understanding between former mayor Tom McMahon and Permacultivate.

Before Permacultivate took over, the greenhouse had been in disrepair and vacant. The space was used to educate people about food sustainability, provide volunteer opportunities, promote the urban farmer’s market, and implement beautification projects in the park.

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