The Bloomberg administration released new regulations yesterday for the city's 282 community gardens that will replace a 2002 agreement with the State Attorney General's Office that offered firm pledges of protection to 198 gardens and which expires Friday, according to an article in today's edition of The New York Times by Javier C. Hernandez.

The new regulations go into effect next month and include "a more explicit pledge that gardens would be preserved if the groups running them were in good standing" and "to qualify, organizers must keep the gardens well maintained, operate for 20 hours each week and open their gardens to the public," the article said.

The regulations also require the city to try to help find a new group of gardeners if lots are neglected, the article continued.

Many gardeners and community activists had sought to have the Parks and Recreation Department, which has oversight over the gardens, grant permanent protection to the lots but the department said that its powers were limit, the article said, adding that "it argued that it was necessary to have some leverage in case a garden was not properly maintained."

At a news conference in a Harlem vegetable garden on Monday, City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn said that "If we didn't have the best rules, then we had a potential of a state of chaos and threat," adding that "Now that we have the best rules, so we have a foundation and a sense of calm and protection," the article said.

"The new rules are the latest attempt to address the concerns of gardeners, who have emerged as a vocal force since the days of Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, whose administration tried to build housing complexes over garden spaces. Many of the gardens are about a third of an acre in size, often sandwiched between buildings," the article said, adding that "several advocates for community gardens...said the rules were too vague and left open the possibility that lots could be overtaken."

Bill Di Paola, executive director of Time's Up!, an environmental organization, told The Times that "The city needs to recognize that the parks and gardens belong to the people."

Benjamin Shepard, a social worker who has volunteered with Time's Up!, told The Times that "he was disappointed that the city devoted so much space in the regulations to detailing the process for relocating gardens," adding that "I'm not seeing preservation here; I'm not seeing permanence here."

Karen Washington, president of the nonprofit group New York City Community Garden Coalition, said, however, in a statement that it appeared the concerns of gardeners had been addressed, the article continued, adding that her group planned to review the exact language of the rules before offering a verdict.

Ms. Quinn said the rules released Monday "go as far as they can possibly go," but she noted that a new mayor could easily repeal them and the article said she said "she would explore ways of offering permanent protection to gardens, including possibly setting up land trusts or long-term leases."