If all goes as planned by next spring residents of the Redbank neighborhood in South Portland will be planting vegetables, flowers and more in their own community garden.

The garden received approval from the Planning Board last week and Rick Towle, the city’s director of parks and recreation, said the project is the next step in reclaiming for public use the former site of the Mary Marsh School.

The garden will be located at 62 MacArthur Circle East and will consist of a series of raised planting beds, Towle said. The 4-acre property is owned by Home Properties, which has agreed to lease the parcel to South Portland for $1 for the next 10 years.

In addition to the community garden, Towle also asked the Planning Board for site approval to redevelop a recreational field, also located in the Redbank neighborhood, to provide a safe, appropriate play space for local children.

Towle said the garden and redevelopment of the field are both part of a master plan for public space in Redbank, which his department worked with the neighborhood to create.

According to the site plan application filed with the planning office, the expected cost of the project is about $50,000, which will come from a community development block grant already approved by the City Council.

The application said construction of the garden would take about six weeks and the goal is to send out a request for proposals for area contractors sometime in July. At the May 26 Planning Board meeting, Towle said, “there’s actually a great deal of work involved in preparing the planting beds.”

He said in addition to the Parks and Recreation Department, South Portland’s Community Garden Collective would also have a hand in creating, maintaining and operating the new community garden, which would be similar to the one at the former Hamlin School.

Prior to last week’s meeting, Towle told the Current the benefits of a community garden include not just the production of fresh food, but also the opportunity for hands-on, experiential learning and community involvement.

With access to a community garden, “People learn to grow their own food; local, fresh food becomes part of their diets; and kids learn how to interact with their food source and how a community can take control of their own nutrition,” Towle said.

In granting approval for the new community garden, Planning Board member Linda Boudreau said it would be “a great asset” to Redbank.

“It’s time the city dedicated some effort to the west side,” she added. “When they lost the Mary Marsh School, they lost the community.”

The school closed in 2006 and since then the city and other organizations have worked hard to maintain the social fabric in the Redbank neighborhood with the opening of a community center/gym and more, including a monthly community dinner.

Planning Board member Fred Hagan called the community garden proposal, “a great idea. I have no issues with this project.”