Farmers Market Organizers Seek New Bay Farm Location

Two weekends ago, what was to be the Saturday grand opening of the Bay Farm Alameda Farmers Market in the Earhart Elementary School parking lot was suddenly canceled.

The market's organizers, Holly and Mark Brett of Island Earth Farmers Market Association, which has run several farmers markets in the Bay Area, attributed the cancellation to opposition from neighbors in the nearby Centre Court complex. The neighbors said the market would increase traffic and make parking difficult.

A notice published on the Island Earth Farmers Market website said this: "Due to the protest of two residents at Center Court Complex, Island Earth will NOT be able to hold the farmers market at the Amelia Earhart School."

But the story turns out to be somewhat more complicated. 

Kristi Ojigho, of the Alameda Unified School District's facilities department, said Island Earth did apply for and receive a permit from the district to use the Earhart parking lot. But such events also require an outdoor use permit from the City of Alameda, which Island Earth did not obtain. 

Holly Brett says  that she thought the district permit was the only permission that she needed.  "They said they make the decision," said Holly Brett. "That the permit is exclusively through them." Brett said she could not recall the name of the person she spoke to at the district.

"I don't know where they would have gotten that impression," said Robert Shemwell, AUSD's chief business officer, who remembers it differently. "We made it clear in our meetings with them that we needed them to go through the permit process with the City."

When Shemwell saw the flyers and banners for the grand opening, he says he was taken aback. "The size and scope of the event was much larger than what we had been led to believe," said Shemwell. "With people coming and going, musical performances and face painting and juggling. So we asked again if they [Island Earth] had gone through the permitting process with the City." 

Brian Stanke, a planner with the City of Alameda, said the planning department was contacted about a permit two weeks before the Bay Farm Farmers Market was set to launch.

The application process for an outdoor activity use permit, which includes a public hearing, normally takes up to two months.

With the Sept. 25 grand opening fast approaching, there was not enough time for Island Earth to obtain the necessary outdoor use permit, which also requires a $1,700 application fee.

So the Bretts said they decided to apply for a special event permit, which is usually issued for one-time events like block parties. The special event permit, which costs only $68, would have allowed them to hold the farmers market up to four weekends, while they worked through the planning department's permitting process.

A special event permit, said Stanke, requires seventy percent of nearby residents to sign a petition in support of the event. "We knocked on a lot of doors, which is not a comfortable thing for me to do," Holly Brett said.

About a week before the market had been planned to open, Stanke and Shemwell met again with the Bretts and gave them the news that the City would not be issuing a special use permit. "Island Earth really needed to get a use permit," said Stanke. "They were trying to get one kind when they really needed another."

But now, no matter the result of the City permitting process, the Earhart parking lot is no longer available as a site for the farmers market. The school district has changed its position. "With the feedback we were getting from the community and looking at the size and scope of the event, we didn't feel Earhart was an appropriate location," Shemwell said.

The Bretts say they are still hopeful that they can bring a farmers market to Bay Farm and have spoken  with several groups about alternative sites. They declined to name other locations under consideration.

"We are absolutely committed to coming back to Bay Farm," said Mark Brett, who says the overwhelming majority of residents with whom they spoke are in favor of having a farmers market there.

 "We weren't trying to have a firestorm of controversy," said Holly Brett. "We were just trying to have a nice farmers market."