A Site Suitability Analysis to Determine the Optimal Location for a Community Garden in Mendon, MA

Mendon, Massachusetts is a great candidate for a community garden, but the process of finding the ideal location for the garden within the town can be difficult, so this project uses survey data and existing suitability analyses to conduct a weighted site suitability analysis to assist the process. The survey was used to gain insight on whether or not the community wanted a garden, and where they would want it to be located. Based on the survey and several existing site suitability analyses, the criteria for the community garden parcel will include the following, in order of importance: at least 6 hours of sunlight, within a 3 minute drive from to center of Mendon, at least 200 meters away from a public water source, an area of at least 10,000 meters squared, on a slope that is no more than 12 percent, and on either a south, southwest or southeast facing slope. The final parcels will be looked at in detail to determine which would be the most suitable for the community garden.