Flower power: NYC locals regain access to all of beloved garden after bruising legal battle

Lower East Side locals are rejoicing after finally tearing down a fence that cut a beloved children’s community garden in half and involved a decade-long legal turf war with a real-estate mogul.

Supporters of the Children’s Magical Garden struck a deal earlier this month in Manhattan Supreme Court with real-estate developer David Marom, allowing the community to regain control of the other half of the lot on the corner of Norfolk and Stanton Streets where Marom had planned to build a seven-story residential tower.

The settlement marks an end to an ugly court battle in which Marom, the president of the New York City real-estate development company The Horizon Group, was once accused of threatening to dump a Porta-Potty in the garden.

Marom has agreed to donate his plot of land, which he purchased in 2014 for $3.35 million, to Children’s Magical Garden in honor of his mother, according to lawyers for both parties and the Real Deal.

“It’s an incredible achievement of many years of everybody coming together to support the garden,” said Kate Temple-West, president of the group, to The Post. “Now we can let the garden reach its full potential, for all the kids and the community.”Community members celebrated last weekend in a ceremony where kids, parents and area elected officials ripped up the chain link fence that stood between the green space and Marom’s lot, which locals claimed had been illegally separated from the garden.

The garden was started by activist Carmen Rubio in 1982 on a burnt-down site-turned-dump across the street from PS 20 and has been a volunteer-run space for after-school programs, recreational activities and community events for more than 40 years.