DECATUR, Ill. (WAND) — The city of Decatur is moving forward with an urban garden project that will take up almost two blocks of the Old Kings Orchard neighborhood. On Monday night council voted to demolish six homes in the area that will become the garden. 

Decatur officials have been buying up property between Union and Edward Streets, running from West Grand down to West Packard Streets. The city plans to clear the land and hand it over to Good Samaritan Inn to be transformed into an agriculture project.

"The next step will be for us to let a contract, for a local contractor, to dig it all up and essentially till it on a large scale, and get it ready for planting," City Manager Scot Wrighton told WAND News.

Three of the houses approved for demolition are outside the original footprint of the urban garden, approved by city council in June. But the city said it's not ready to announce whether the project is expanding.

"We're thinking about whether or not there is practicality for us to move forward and make it larger. At this time I'm not able to talk about that because there are so many variables out there," Wrighton explained.

The project is being paid for with a violence prevention grant secured by Senator Doris Turner.

Wrighton hopes to have the property ready for the Good Samaritan Inn by 2024.

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