Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Land Use Farm Stands topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Hurricane planning commission backs farm-stand code update, sends recommendation to city council
Summary
The commission voted to recommend approval of a land-use code amendment (LUC A25-03) that clarifies rules for farm stands and creates a conditional-use pathway for stands selling commercially packaged goods.
The Hurricane City Planning Commission voted April 24 to recommend that the City Council approve LUC A25-03, a land-use code amendment that updates Title 10, Chapters 3, 7, 12 and 14 to clarify rules on farm stands and establish conditions for those selling commercially packaged goods.
The amendment removes a five-acre minimum for a certain farm-stand classification and creates a conditional-use permit for farm stands that intend to sell commercially packaged items. Under the proposed condition for that conditional use, at least 50% of the structure’s total sales area must be devoted to products “grown or produced on the property on which the farm stand is located,” though commissioners discussed whether to allow cooperative or neighborhood arrangements in which nearby farmers sell at one stand.
Chair Paul (chair) told the commission the intent was to allow more flexibility for farm operations while retaining limits on commercial retail expansions. “We decided as a council that we would take off the limit or the amount of land required for one of these stands,” Paul said during the discussion. Planning staff explained that the conditional-use path is intended for more intensive operations that would otherwise be treated as commercial uses, and that the business-license requirement in Title 3 would apply to the conditional-use case.
Commissioners debated the 50% threshold and whether exceptions should be written to permit neighboring producers to sell at a single farm stand. Commissioner Shelley Goodfellow Carlin raised a typical scenario: a neighborhood of small producers who want to combine offerings at one stand. Planning staff said normal, smaller-scale farm stands that do not sell commercially packaged goods are already allowed under existing code without the conditional-use requirements; the amendment mainly affects stands that seek to sell packaged commercial items.
After discussion, a motion recommending approval of LUC A25-03 was made and seconded and carried unanimously. The commission asked staff to include clarifying language in the ordinance to address neighborhood or multi-producer arrangements and to highlight to the City Council that the amendment is intended to preserve agricultural character while allowing limited commercial sales.
The planning commission’s recommendation will be transmitted to the City Council for its consideration; the council retains final authority to adopt or modify the code changes.
