Trail city council has given its blessing for the IncrEdible Farmers Market to submit a grant application to renovate the commercial kitchen at the city-owned Trail Memorial Centre.
But it was only after city staff cautioned council about the many details that will have to be ironed out in a facility use agreement if the application is successful.
“It’s important for council to realize there are some pieces that need to be worked through,” city manager Colin McClure said. “We are not trying to be a roadblock, but there are a lot of moving parts and a lot of users of the space and potentially more as we get outside of COVID.”
The market is proposing to lease the kitchen for four years for non-exclusive use and apply for a federal grant worth $100,000 for renovations necessary to turn the kitchen into a food production, processing, and preservation hub. They say it would give vendors presently using their home kitchens a way to scale up their businesses. The grant deadline is Friday.
Proponents from the market, city staff, and two caterers walked through the facility last week to identify possible challenges.
“This was meant to help people understand the complexities of the ask and to start the wheels turning from an administrative perspective as to what an agreement might look like or what hurdles there might be,” parks and recreation director Trisha Davison says.
Among the things they flagged were that access can only be granted when certified ice operators are on site (the building is also home to the Cominco Arena).
They also need to figure out who receives priority use for the space and on what terms when there are competing requests.
The farmers market underestimated the use the kitchen has had over the years, Davison wrote. Although things were quiet during the pandemic, previously 12 to 18 events per year would use the kitchen in some way.
“Once the number of events were presented, it became apparent the degree of coordination and space prioritization that would be required,” she wrote.
Council heard that the success of the arrangement would hinge on hiring a kitchen coordinator to juggle all of those needs.
Davison says two rooms the farmers market originally identified as possible storage spaces won’t work, but the old men’s changeroom might be used to store some dry goods.
Mayor Lisa Pasin calls the idea “definitely an interesting proposal and definitely complex.”
“As elected officials our lens is we want to do good for the community but we also need to protect our taxpayers,” she says. “There are usually ancillary costs that come with these these types of projects.”
The five members of council present for a special meeting today voted unanimously in favour of granting the letter of permission to submit the grant application.
