JOYCE, WASH. – Clallam County officials have ordered the operators of the popular Joyce Farmer’s Market to cease operations and apply for a proper zoning permit. The little outdoor market for local farmers opened on private property last summer and has been operating on Saturday’s this summer as well.
The land is owned by Janelle Martinson and sits along Highway 112 just west of the Salt Creek Bridge in Joyce.
“We’ve developed a loyal following over this last year and a half, and the community support has been amazing. So we were just offering out there…it was $20 a table, which helps cover our liability insurance, our finance, our expenses, and they could come every Saturday. There was no requirement to have a certain number of attendants. It was just come as you can, participate with us. We got the school involved. The Crescent School has a school garden. The kids came up and made a hundred dollars in one day. It’s just a little grass roots, you know, put up your tent, put up whatever you have and share it with your community.”
Martinson got a letter this month from the Department of Community Development saying that her farmer’s market was in violation of civil codes and would now require a Conditional Use Permit.
“A conditional use permit. I’ve got the paperwork for it. It’s a pretty laborious and onerous task, according to what they want. It’s 2500 dollars just to put in the application for the conditional use permit. That’s not to say you’re going to get it passed. And you really virtually need an engineer to do these drawings that they want. So you’d have to hire an engineer on top of that. So it’s a pretty laborious process to go through. Wer’e zoned for agricultural activities. To me, they could say there’s nothing more agricultural than a bunch of farmers getting together and selling their wares one day a week for four hours.”
We asked Mary Ellen Winborn, Director of the Department of Community Development, to explain what’s expected of Martinson before she can open again.
“First of all, it’s a safety issue. There’s a safety issue with ingress and egress of the property. She’s going to have to work with the Department of Transportation because she’s permitted for a residential driveway and she has a lot of the public coming in and out. And so they just need to know that it’s permitted properly from their standards. And also, their potentially can be a food handlers safety issues. So the right permits for people to do food handling. And then there’s the whole issue of the building, the existing building. And we wouldn’t make her bring the entire building up to current code, just the area that she’s using that the public is, you know, interacting with. And then, because she’s having other vendors come in, we would have to get a conditional use permit, because this is a residential zone and you know, commercial use is not allowed. But it potentially could be conditionally allowed if you do certain things. If you operate within certain hours, a limited amount of times per year, when people know that you’re there so they’ll be more aware on the highway. When people are coming in and out. Because people have died on that highway so we can’t be too careful with that.”
Martinson says shelling out $2,500 plus the cost of an engineer to do drawings still doesn’t guarantee she’ll be approved to reopen the market. But Winborn likes her chances.
“We would certainly recommend approval because we would love to see things like this happen in our rural areas. And you know, I’ve seen that building. It’s a really cool building, and you just kind of go ‘Gosh I wish somebody could do something with it’. And she’s going to do it. She’s doing it. Maybe she can rally enough interest in this and she can get some people to donate and help her pay for that conditional use permit. Because it sounds like it’s been really active and fun and vibrant.”
Whatever happens, the Joyce Farmer’s Market is closed for the season.
Above: Janelle Martinson and her partner Howard Parker.
Photos by Roger Mosley.