Kamloops farm looking for approval to host farm to plate events

KAMLOOPS – A local farm is close to being allowed to hold events on its property.

Sullindeo Farm, at 680 Dairy Rd., is asking the city permission to hold events on the farm’s property. The farm has already received conditional consent from the Agricultural Land Commission.

The commission’s conditions are the farm is only allowed to hold eight events a year, between May and September, and the events also must be catered, farm-to-plate and restricted to 30 guests. No permanent structures can be constructed or renovated for the non-farm use, all parking is to be on the farm’s land and the permit is only for the current owners of the farm.

City planning supervisor Eric Beach says the public will be able to share opinions about the permit at a May 17 meeting or through writing.

At the May 3 council meeting planning director Marvin Kwiatkowski told council the application had initially come to the city, which forwarded it to the land commission. The commission initially rejected the application, but the farm returned with more information in July 2015, he explained. In December 2015 the commission gave the farm conditional approval. The last step is to get a temporary use permit from the city.

Beach says the temporary use means the permit will be good for three years, at which point the farm can reapply for a single year extension or a permanent alteration to the farm’s zoning.

He says the land commission may have had other similar applications before, but the city hasn’t received any of those to date.

Sullindeo Farms has been working on this application since 2013.

Council is expected to make a decision at the May 17 meeting.

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