Borough Creates Town Hall Site For Farmers’ Markets, Art, Antiques Shows

By John Voket

Imagine perusing booths packed with interesting antiques, maybe picking up a piece of locally hand-crafted jewelry for your mom, along with some artisanal cheese and a few ears of sweet corn picked just this morning…

That could become a weekly occurrence at Edmond Town Hall within a couple of weeks now that the Newtown Borough Board of Burgesses has unanimously passed an ordinance permitting these activities. The decision came Tuesday evening after the burgesses and Warden James Gaston heard from farmers, an artisanal food maker, and the organizer of the Sandy Hook Organic Farmers’ Market.

That farmers’ market recently attempted to relocate onto the grounds of Lexington Gardens after an invitation was extended earlier this summer. But neither town nor borough zoning permits mixed use on commercial properties, so the market was halted at that location.

According to Mr Gaston, a mixed use situation occurs when a permitted business, in this case Lexington Gardens, allows any separate for-profit business to transact at the location. The organic farmers’ market that has maintained residence in Sandy Hook for seven years is permitted under a special design district regulations. A smaller Sunday morning farmers’ market has also been permitted in Sandy Hook.

While Mr Gaston and several other burgesses expressed their support for community-based agriculture by shopping farmers’ markets themselves, the warden said it would be unethical to simply look the other way an permit such an activity to go on when it was illegal by town and borough rules.

More importantly, Mr Gaston, an attorney and also vice chair of the Newtown Board of Finance, said permitting this single mixed-use activity at the borough nursery could open the door for any other business to conduct things like farmers’ markets, flea markets, rug sales, carnivals, swap meets, or any other activity.

“We may as well not have zoning in that case,” Mr Gaston said.

So he and the borough leaders looked for any possible location where farmers’ markets, art and antique shows might be feasible, and since the only legal place to permit it is on public property, Mr Gaston thought that Edmond Town Hall would be “the perfect fit.” With that in mind, he helped draft a borough ordinance that would, under strict criteria, permit these limited public activities.

During public discussion ahead of the burgesses deliberation and vote, Mary Fellows, who attempted to relocate the Sandy Hook market to Lexington Gardens unaware of the legalities, argued that the town hall location would not be embraced by farmers who are needed to ensure the success of the venture.

“Putting it in the back [of the town hall] is no good for the farmers’ market,” she said. “Farmers don’t seem to want it.”

Ms Fellows, and later Rose Garby, a farmers’ market vendor from Roxbury, also took issue with holding the market on asphalt.

“It’s hot for us and it’s hot for the customers,” Ms Garby said, adding later that even if the tables are covered with a pop-up canopy, rising heat from the pavement gets trapped and makes even shaded stands uncomfortable.

Ken Mitchell, a seventh-generation farmer from Southbury, said if such an ordinance was drafted it should stipulate that all participants be issued permits. He said this would ensure a balance among vendors, and would prevent participants from bringing in inappropriate wares to sell, like ice cream and novelty items.

He said each vendor should be required to carry insurance, and that seasonal signage directing visitors should be installed so they are visible to travelers going north and south on Main Street.

Andy Corson, an artisanal baker from Newtown who helps organize a farmers’ market in Kent, said to avoid the pavement problem, the Kent market is held in the morning. But Ms Fellows countered that in her experience, Newtowners are more likely to shop a farmers’ market in the afternoon.

She said one year, her farmers’ market split its schedule specifically to see which time frame would be most conducive to traffic and that afternoon hours were more preferred as borne out by attendance numbers.

During further discussion, Mr Corson also said that language in the ordinance should not be so strict that it restricted businesses like his that acquire ingredients from local farm providers, but deliver prepared foods like his artisanal baked goods, cheeses, and the like.

Mr Gaston and the burgesses agreed, and handwrote the additional language right into the draft document on the spot.

Despite the effort, Ms Fellows was insistent that the town hall is not the best location for such activities and turned the discussion toward local churches as hosts. She said Monsignor Bob [Weiss] told her the St Rose property might be appropriate, and he was “willing to help if he could.”

That resulted in further discussion and an agreement on the part of Mr Gaston to research possible legal avenues to permit the farmers’ markets on the grounds of borough churches. But he was adamant that the board attempt to at least pass the ordinance that evening, so farmers’ market sales could commence at the town hall site by month’s end.

“If St Rose or Trinity or the Congregational Church is willing, great. But let’s pass this and then bring it up in zoning to determine if we can mix uses on a church property,” Mr Gaston said. With no further comment, the burgesses passed the amended ordinance.