Also serving the communities of De Luz, Rainbow, Camp Pendleton, Pala and Pauma

County planning commission recommends ordinance for temporary agritourism community events

The San Diego County’s planning commission recommended an ordinance to address temporary agritourism community events.

A 6-0 planning commission vote Nov. 8, with Yolanda Calvo absent, provided the recommendation which will be forwarded to the San Diego County Board of Supervisors for approval. Both the county’s Code of Regulatory Ordinances and the county’s Zoning Ordinance would be amended to accommodate such events.

In March 2017, the board of supervisors approved the county’s Agriculture Promotion Program which allows commercial accessory uses on properties where agriculture is the primary use. In May 2018, the board of supervisors directed the county’s chief administrative officer to explore options to ease the ability of local small-scale businesses to provide food and goods at community-based events on agriculture-producing properties, to add to the county’s legislative program support for state legislative efforts to reduce or ease regulations for local small-scale businesses seeking to provide food or goods at community-based events on agricultural property or direct marketing of agricultural products, and to return to the board of supervisors within 120 days. The options the chief administrative officer was to explore included a permit fee waiver program, a pilot program and revisions to the Agriculture Promotion Program including Zoning Ordinance revisions.

Five different county departments worked on the options. The Department of Agriculture, Weights and Measures has regulatory and permitting authority for certified farmers’ markets and certified agriculture producers. The Department of Environmental Health has regulatory and permitting authority for food operations. The Department of Planning and Development Services has expertise in county code and zoning. The sheriff’s department has a licensing division which licenses vendors. County Counsel reviewed the proposed options for conformance with the California Retail Food Code, county code, the Zoning Ordinance and current business practices.

The options were grouped into four categories: allowing food or goods vendors at community events on agriculture-producing land, expanding opportunities for commercial agriculture operations to build small agriculture stores, holding certified farmers' markets on agriculture-producing land and providing incentives to encourage food truck participation at agricultural tourism events. Each potential option included a summary of what changes would be needed for implementation, the anticipated level of environmental review, the estimated cost for environmental review and for permit fee waiver pilot programs and the anticipated timeframe for the implementation to occur.

The four options provided for food and goods vendors consisted of limiting events to one temporary food facility vendor, allowing for multiple food vendors without limitations to the number of food vendors, allowing for food and goods vendors with a requirement that at least 51% of the sales be agriculture-related and allowing multiple food or goods vendors without limits. In November 2018, the supervisors chose the option of multiple food and goods vendors with a majority of sales being agriculture-related. That action adopted two recommendations involving permit fee waivers for pilot programs and sent the other recommendations to county staff for development and environmental review.

Under current state law and county code agriculture producers may host a vendor to sell locally produced food through a temporary food facility permit which is administered by Department of Environmental Health under the California Retail Food Code. Food trucks are currently allowed at boutique wineries, small wineries, large breweries or distilleries or agricultural production land associated with agricultural tourism. Certified farmers’ markets are allowed only on public property or commercially zoned parcels. Temporary food facilities can operate for no more than 25 days of any 90-day period.

A Zoning Ordinance amendment was necessary to define and authorize agriculture tourism community events. The proposed amendment would limit events to 350 people, which is consistent with existing county code for sheriff’s department licensing of for-profit events, while also limiting the hours of operation, prohibiting outdoor amplified sound and specifically excluding carnivals, swap meets and weddings.

Agritourism activities are defined as an accessory agricultural use where the public visits a commercial agricultural operation for enjoyment, education or active involvement in the agricultural activities. Such activities include customers picking their own agricultural products, tours, agricultural instruction or demonstrations, lectures or classes about agriculture-related topics and participation in agricultural operations on the premises. The intent of those activities is to aid the economic viability of agriculture both by providing additional economic activity and by educating the general public about the importance of agriculture.

Small agricultural stores are separate from agritourism activities and were approved as part of the Agricultural Promotion Program. A zoning verification permit was required although the revised ordinance would eliminate that permit requirement. The draft ordinance revisions also define temporary agritourism community events and provide criteria for commercial agricultural operations to include for-profit sales during agritourism activities.

Under the current ordinance agritourism is allowed if at least 50% of a parcel’s area is suitable for agriculture and at least 25% is actively used for agriculture. For a parcel exceeding 200 acres at least 40 acres must be actively used as agriculture. The proposed revisions will allow parcels exceeding 20 acres to qualify if at least 5 acres are in active agricultural use.

The proposed revisions define a temporary agritourism community event as a publicly accessible for-profit organized activity or gathering which is advertised or promoted. A nonprofit community event with a community events permit provided by Department of Environmental Health would also be considered a temporary agritourism community event. The event must be limited to no more than 350 guests. The maximum number of temporary events would be 25 days within a 90-day period.

Up to two goods vendors would be permitted at a temporary agritourism community event unless at least 51% of the total vendors are related to agriculture products in which case additional goods vendors would be permitted. An operator selling food would require a temporary food facility permit. Any alcohol sales would require a state Alcoholic Beverage Control license, and if the facility has a permanent ABC license the conditions of that license would apply. Sanitation facilities meeting Department of Environmental Health standards must be provided.

The community events including setup and tear down activities would be limited to between 8 a.m. and sunset, and all temporary components must be removed within 24 hours after the conclusion of an event. All areas accessed by the public must be permitted and constructed in compliance with applicable commercial building codes including the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Outdoor amplified sound would not be permitted. Temporary agritourism community events would specifically exclude carnivals, corporate events, festivals, music concerts and weddings.

The changes also amend the county’s tiered winery ordinance to allow temporary agritourism community events on wholesale limited, boutique and small wineries. The ordinance currently prohibits all commercial activities, and other commercial activities would still be prohibited.

The Agriculture Promotion Program included a requirement for adequate off-street parking and prohibited parking on private roads; that would not be changed. The addition of food and goods vendors is not expected to substantially increase traffic impacts, so the update of the 2017 Programmatic Environmental Impact Report did not require a modification.

The Valley Center Community Planning Group is the only community planning group or community sponsor group to have taken a position on the ordinance amendments for temporary agritourism community events; the planning group voted 11-0, Oct. 17, in favor of the draft ordinance amendments. The public comments led to a revision in the hours of operation, which originally were from 10 a.m. to sunset, as farmers often begin their work earlier in the day when the temperature is cooler and earlier hours would also be more comfortable for the visitors.

Author Bio

Joe Naiman, Writer

Joe Naiman has been writing for the Village News since 2001

 

Reader Comments(0)