Farmers’ market marches on

Supporters of the Chico Certified Farmers’ Market’s Saturday event cleared another hurdle Monday (May 12). Or at least they think they did. After months of collecting signatures around town for an initiative meant to keep the market in its current location for at least the next six years, they were ready for the next step. So a smiling group gathered outside City Hall to deliver the petitions to the city clerk. Whether the wording of the initiative is legal is yet to be determined.

In all, the Friends of the Farmers’ Market, which led the petition drive, gathered 9,265 signatures. The City Clerk’s Office confirmed that number, but the signatures must be verified by county elections staff before the initiative moves forward. (Only 4,750 signatures—10 percent of Chico’s registered voters—were required to advance the initiative.)

The ballot initiative is just the latest in a long string of events involving the future of the Saturday farmers’ market. For years, there have been grumblings among some downtown businesses that use of the parking lot at Second and Wall streets for the market on Saturdays has a negative impact on parking and, ultimately, sales.

Last summer, the Chico City Council voted to extend the market’s franchise agreement on the lot through December 2014, during which time a committee would be formed to discuss where to go from there.

“We’ve been in that lot for 21 years,” said Cheryl King, Friends of the Farmers’ Market spokeswoman, during the recent press conference. “It’s become a tradition, a community event.”

The initiative, most basically, includes the terms of the current agreement between the city and the Chico Certified Farmers’ Market (CCFM). It changes it in a few key ways:

• Instead of opening the city-owned lot from 7 a.m.-1 p.m. for the market on Saturdays, it would be open from 5:30 a.m.-1 p.m.

Instead of opening just part of the parking lot, it would include the entire lot.

• Instead of the CCFM paying an annual fee of $284 (what was paid this year) to the city, it would pay $5,000.

• Instead of being renewed annually, the franchise would be renewed every eight years (with the initial franchise lasting until Dec. 31, 2020).

“The intent of the additional space isn’t just to have more vendors, but to be able to add community space, seating, a designated area for musicians,” explained Natalie Carter, office manager for CCFM. (While CCFM did not lead the petition drive, it did have input on the wording of the initiative.) “If you go to the market on Saturdays, sometimes you’ll see a mother and her kids sitting on the curb eating tamales—we want to be able to add tables and chairs so people can sit. We just don’t have the space for that right now.”

Carter pointed to the increased annual fee as an offer to repay the city for the lost parking spaces. She said they came to the $5,000 amount by calculating roughly what the city would make if the entire lot were full for the length of the market and metered (parking is free on Saturdays).

City Attorney Vince Ewing has questioned the legality of the initiative, saying it violates the state Constitution because it would create a law binding the city to contract with a private company (CCFM). Ewing did not return a phone call seeking additional comment by press time.

Proponents of the market stand by their initiative and its legality. If enough signatures are confirmed by the county Clerk-Recorder’s Office, which has 30 days to count them, the initiative will go before the Chico City Council. It will then either be approved and signed into law or it will be added to the November ballot to be voted on by the people of Chico.

In the meantime, a subcommittee has been formed, consisting of two council members and Community Development Department Director Mark Wolfe. Despite a slow start, the committee did meet with CCFM representatives May 6 to start a dialogue about the market.

“The bulk of the conversation was about how we might approach perceived parking issues in downtown Chico—at least I consider them perceived,” Carter said. “The meeting was positive enough, and we agreed to meet again, but no date was set for a second meeting.”

For now, people like King and Carter are hoping for the best.

“We’re putting our eggs in the initiative basket,” Carter said. “If it came to it, would we move? We probably would, but I don’t know where. We don’t have a lot of good options.”