Council approves expanded Sugar Sweet Farm agritourism permit with new reporting and event limits

Encinitas — The City Council on June 24 approved modifications to the agricultural permit for Sugar Sweet Farm at 3563 Fortuna Ranch Road to clarify and allow fee‑based agritourism activities while imposing operational limits to protect nearby residents.

Staff presented an operations plan that lists permitted activities — farm and garden education, seasonal community events, youth farm camps, animal‑assisted experiences and similar agritourism programs — and recommended replacing a condition that broadly prohibited commercial activity with a targeted exception: fee‑based activities consistent with agritourism definitions. The staff recommendation reiterated a cap of 40 non‑family guests on‑site, sunrise‑to‑sunset hours, on‑site parking only and no amplified sound. An explicit limit of 16 scheduled events per month (rising seasonally to 10–16 in peak months) was added; youth farm camps were clarified as educational programs subject to licensing and to the same on‑site guest caps.

Neighbors who spoke raised prior instances of advertised “goat yoga” and other promotions that earlier had drawn code‑enforcement attention and asked for enforcement assurances; staff said previous advertising had been corrected following notices and that code enforcement inspected the site and found compliance prior to the council hearing. Farm operators and supporters described long‑running educational programming, summer camps and volunteers, and asked the council to allow consistent treatment of farm camp under the city’s urban‑agriculture policy. The council clarified that for permit enforcement purposes an “event” is each scheduled session or class regardless of duration or participant count; the city will treat each scheduled session as one event toward the monthly limit.

Council action approved the permit modification with clarified language that the farm’s fee‑based activities must fall within recognized agritourism uses, that youth farm camps must comply with state and county licensing, and that attendance records be maintained and provided to staff on request. The council also directed staff to work with the operator on specific parking and site‑operation clarifications and to ensure any building‑permit conditions (including accessible parking) are completed.

The council emphasized that the approval preserves educational farm uses while giving staff tools to enforce on‑site limits and protect public safety and neighborhood access.