5 days Ago
The Boulder County commissioners this week approved amendments to the county’s land use code that allow farmers to set up mobile farm stands — and skip the expensive and time-consuming building permit process required to build a permanent structure.“I really loved the way you listened to what the farmers were saying and went in a different direction,” Commissioner Claire Levy said at the Tuesday meeting.The idea for mobile farm stands was developed after the county first tried to create a pre-approved farm stand design, with a goal of making it easier for farmers to sell directly to consumers.
“We wanted to think of a creative solution,” Sabrina Torres, Boulder County’s sustainable agriculture community outreach planner, said at the meeting.The hope was that a pre-approved design would allow farmers to save time and money by skipping the traditional design and review process. But, as the county worked with an architect on a design to meet both its building code requirements and farmer needs, it soon became apparent that even a pre-approved option could be too expensive for farmers, with a starting cost of about $30,000.
Helen Skiba, owner of Artemis Flower Farm and part of the Treehouse Farm Collective, looks through her seed collection. (Cliff Grassmick/Staff Photographer)A survey of 13 local farmers found the average they were willing to spend on a farm stand was about $8,500. Based on the USDA’s most recent agricultural census in 2022, 86% of Boulder County’s 826 farms also made less than $26,000 a year.
“The high building cost was determined to be insurmountable,” Torres said.Based on farmer feedback, the county instead developed a mobile option.Boulder County Planner Jack Sheehan said the land use code changes add a more inclusive definition of agricultural structures that includes mobile farm stands.
The requirements are for a stand that’s on wheels and can be either driven or towed to another location. One option would be building a stand on a flat-bed trailer.The majority of products sold at the mobile farm stands also must be sourced from Boulder County farms.
Commissioner Ashley Stolzmann thanked the county and community for working together on the issue.“You’ve come up with something that’s pretty clever and also pretty exciting,” she said..
