Entrepreneur seeks April opening for 'Fros Shop Marketplace'; county review and fees remain pending

Zaf Du Bois updated the Creative Placemaking Strategy Advisory Committee on plans to activate the Fros Shop Marketplace, saying the project’s conditional-use permit is under county review and the group hopes to open April 1.

"Our goal to open is April 1," Du Bois said, adding that the conditional-use permit has been submitted and county reviewers have not raised any obvious objections though parking needs further work. Du Bois said the project has commitments from several food vendors and is negotiating with at least one operator to act as a permanent food truck to meet permit expectations for a consistent food presence.

Du Bois described a partnership with the county library to create a tool-lending library that would initially operate out of a 20-foot storage container; he said SierraTel has offered Wi‑Fi to allow library-card checkouts at the site. "We also have this really cool new opportunity to work with the library... where you can use your library card, and we're gonna have tools available for the community checkout," Du Bois said.

On county fees, Du Bois said the county invoiced $3,700 to review sketches for the site. He framed the marketplace as an economic-development effort intended to keep spending local and to provide vendor opportunities: "It's a loss leader, but it's okay because I know it's gonna make a difference here," he said, describing anticipated local spending and vendor revenue benefits.

Next steps include addressing parking comments in the county review, continuing vendor recruitment and site activation logistics, and following the county's sketch‑review conversation about fees and permit requirements. The committee will monitor permitting updates at future meetings.