Image from the workshop

Written by Agritecture

A Saturday that turned a vacant lot into three real possibilities

A few weeks ago, the four adjacent parcels at 922–928 Ontario Avenue in Niagara Falls, NY were just vacant land with a promising idea: a cleared, commercially zoned 0.50-acre site could become something more.

On Saturday, May 2, 2026, that idea came to life. At Heart, Love & Soul (HLS), Niagara Falls residents, growers, designers, engineers, sustainability managers, business leaders, and marketers formed three teams for a full day of co-design. Together, they created three community-grounded concepts for what an urban farm on Ontario Avenue could become.

And now, it's your turn.

The community vote is officially open till May 31st.

Cast your vote on the three concepts: Agritecture.com/HLS

What actually happened on May 2

Using Agritecture's proven workshop methodology, the same format that has been deployed across more than 25 cities over the past 10 years, three teams of about six participants each were given the same brief, the same site data, and the same constraints. From there, they diverged.

Each team was challenged to develop:

1. A crop and production strategy suited to Western New York's climate, the site's soils, and the food needs identified by the HLS pantry, which now serves roughly 1,500 households per month.
2. A site plan that fits the 0.4-acre footprint, respects the C2-A Traditional Commercial zoning, and works with the utilities already in place.
3. A community impact model who the farm serves, how it employs people, how it ties into HLS's existing pantry, dining room, and Daybreak programs.

At the end of the day, each team presented. Three concepts. Three different bets on what Niagara Falls needs most. All three rooted in the same fact: pantry distribution in Niagara Falls has grown 135% in recent years, and a nonprofit that has fed this city since 1980 now has the opportunity to start growing food, not just distributing it.

Why a community vote, and why it matters

Plenty of urban farms get designed in a conference room and dropped onto a neighborhood. Most of those farms struggle, because the people who live next to them never had a seat at the table.

This project was built the other way around. Before the workshop, residents shared their priorities through an anonymous community survey.

During the workshop, teams worked alongside community members. And now, after the workshop, the next decision, which concept actually moves forward, gets handed back to the people who will live with the result.

How to vote (and what to look for)

Voting is open until May 31st to anyone with a stake in Niagara Falls, including residents, regional growers, and those who have watched this stretch of Ontario Avenue sit empty for too long.

On the Concept Voting page, you can compare the three concepts side by side. Each concept includes the team’s site plan, growing strategy, community programming, and budget snapshot.

You don't have to be an expert. You just have to live, work, eat, or care in Niagara Falls.

The vote closes soon. Don't let someone else decide for your block.

Cast your vote now Agritecture.com/HLS

What happens after the vote

Once the community vote closes on May 31st, 2026, the results, alongside input from an expert review panel, will guide HLS and Agritecture in selecting and refining the concept that moves forward. From there, the work shifts from imagination to implementation: detailed design, funding strategy, permitting, build-out, and eventually, harvest.

This is the part of urban agriculture that doesn't always make the press release. It's slower, less photogenic, and dependent on hundreds of small decisions made in the right order. It's also the part where having a global advisory partner matters.

Agritecture over the last 15 years has helped more than 350 worldwide agriculture projects become viable ones. The same feasibility, design, and business planning expertise that has shaped rooftop farms, greenhouses, and community food systems on four continents is now being brought to bear on a half-acre in Niagara Falls, because the methodology scales down just as well as it scales up.

Have a site, a community, and a question about what's possible? Let's talk.

Book a call with Agritecture https://www.agritecture.com/contact

A blueprint, written by a community

The best urban farms grow more than food. They grow trust, jobs, training, dignity, and the feeling that a place is being shaped by the people who actually live in it. That's not a slogan, it's a measurable outcome, and it starts with decisions like the one in front of Niagara Falls right now.

How to take part - three ways

1. Vote on the concepts. This is the most important step right now. https://urbanagricultureniagarausa.base44.app/vote
2. Explore the site and the project. Get the full background, the site overview, and the workshop story. https://urbanagricultureniagarausa.base44.app/
3. Bring this model to your community If you're a nonprofit, a city, a developer, or a funder who wants to run this kind of community-led process on your own site, Agritecture can help. Book a call with our team https://www.agritecture.com/contact

**Further reading**

- Plan the Farm of Tomorrow, in Niagara Falls Today - the original project announcement.

- Agritecture's workshops empower others to develop urban farming - how the methodology works.

- Urban Agriculture Can it Feed Our Cities? - the bigger picture.

- Heart, Love & Soul - meals, pantry, and Daybreak services in Niagara Falls since 1980.