Politics & Government

Mosby Farms to Lease and Farm 85 Acres South of Sumner Golf Course

The Sumner City Council approved by a vote of 6-1 Monday night to enter into a five year lease with Mosby Brothers Farms, Inc. to farm on city land previously leased to the Ota family.

Mosby Farms is moving into Sumner.

The Sumner City Council by a vote of 6-1 approved a five year lease agreement with Mosby Brothers Farms, Inc. during its regular meeting Monday night to farm the 85 acres of city-owned property south of the golf course that had previously been farmed by the Ota family.

According to the council packet, Mosby contacted the city and submitted a letter of interest last Wednesday, March 27. Currently based out of Auburn, Mosby Farms is a locally owned and operated farm with direct ties to Sumner that regularly donates crops to local food banks, works with schools to educate children on the importance of eating healthy, and offers CSA options for local consumers.

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Burr Mosby was also a former Sumner City Council member, said City Attorney Brett Vinson.

Among Mosby's stipulations for the lease agreement was that because the land had been used for producing sod in the last few years and unknown pesticides were used, he needed the first two years to test the soil and restore the land so it was suitable for growing produce.

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The Mosbys, being commercial farmers, adhere to strict production regulations and do not use genetically modified organisms, Vinson said. Consequently, the city agreed to rent the land at $100 per acre for the first two years of the lease; that figure increases to $200 per acre in the third year.

Per the community outreach that the business has historically been known for, Burr and his wife Rosella told the Council they intend to continue reaching out to the Sumner School District to develop similar healthy eating programs as ones they've worked on in the city of Auburn.

Sumner High School applied tech and business teacher Greg Pile told the Council he was really excited about the opportunity to work with the Mosbys. The added bonus, he said, was the prospect of driving by the farm with its rows of produce in the ground "creates an ambience of what Sumner's all about."

Reluctant Opposition

Councilmember Randy Hynek opposed the lease agreement, insisting that procedure leading up to the lease agreement wasn't followed and addressed the Mosbys directly that his opposition wasn't about them.

"I think it's really unfortunate that it's gone about this way," he said

Hynek, along with Councilmember Nancy Dumas had been championing a proposal to install an indoors farmers market and coop in downtown Sumner and to lease at least a portion of the land to small-scale farmers who would be able to work and supply the farmers market with produce that they grow.

They put two resolutions to the Council as well on Monday that added certain limitations on a prospective renter of the land, but those resolutions were listed chronologically after the Mosby Farm lease resolution, and Hynek took issue with the order insisting that those resolutions were brought to the city clerk before the Mosby Farm lease proposal. Vinson told him it was within his rights to propose amendments to the lease agreement as he saw fit to better align with the latter resolutions, which Hynek initially called irrelevant after the Mosby Farms lease agreement was approved.

Hynek, supported by Dumas, wanted to keep open the possibility of revisiting the idea of sharing up to 15 acres of that land with Mosby Farms after the first two years. A motion to amend the lease agreement to have a conversation on the subject after two years also died.

Dumas further questioned Vinson as to whether the idea of shared acreage was brought up to the Mosbys, and Vinson said it was. Though there wasn't strong opposition to the idea, he said, there were questions about feasibility: access to the shared acreage with respect to the rest of the farm, use of the farm's resources, etc.

Though the agreement did not specify the prospect of shared acreage, Dumas clarified, "I'm not going to stand in the way. ... I'd much rather see our land used well than perhaps not being used at all."

Burr Mosby offered his assurance he'd be a good steward of the land: "we really are all about community. ... our hearts are still in Sumner."


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