Roadside stands for garden produce will be allowed in residential areas of Saanich and “pocket” and temporary farmer’s markets will be permitted in settings from schools to church parking lots, after council approved the measures on Monday.
Small producers and market gardeners will be allowed to erect roadside stands on their properties, while pop-up or pocket farm markets will be permitted in places like parks, church parking lots, recreation facilities, public institutions and schools, as long as organizers have an agreement with the property owners.
Temporary farm markets, meanwhile, will be able to use institutional lands, schools, municipal halls, parks and public spaces, provincially owned land, community centres, public rights-of-way and church properties.
Mayor Dean Murdock said the new rules align with the district’s food security strategy and the promotion of local food production.
“One of those is to allow small-scale vendors to have a small farm stand on their property if they’re growing produce. The intent is to be permissive to allow for that type of use to take place without a lot of bureaucratic process for folks to go through,” he said, noting currently producers would have to apply for a temporary-use permit to sell at the farm gate.
The roadside stands would include restrictions on sale of processed foods, would not be allowed to operate on boulevards and would have to have a business licence, although there would be no fee for that licence.
Murdock said farm markets are good for social connectedness as well as promoting local food production and encouraging people to eat locally.
“It’s a great mechanism to bring people together and to build community. And so let’s make sure that our rules don’t restrict that in a way that’s going to make it too difficult for it to happen.”
Pocket farm markets are smaller-scale markets that take place outdoors.
Temporary farm markets tend to be a little larger and permit the sale of a wider range of range of products and may offer things like live music, alcohol sales and food trucks.
“These kinds of little markets can be a lot of fun and probably something that would draw a lot of people to the park or an event in the neighborhood or even at the municipal hall,” said Murdock.
“So if we can set up a bylaw that says come and make this happen using the public realm, let’s animate that space and let those fun things happen and give people a good reason to come out and spend time together.”
Saanich staff have suggested that suitable parks in the district for temporary farm markets could include Beckwith Park, Braefoot Park, Tyndall Park, Cadboro-Gyro Park, Copley West Park, Reynolds Park, Hyacinth Park, Glanford Park and Rosedale Park.
