Group Urges Sumner Residents to Speak at Meeting Tonight Regarding Red Apple Market

The site of the former Red Apple Market in Sumner has sat vacant for some time and is currently used for storage and city parking, but some residents are worried that just as work is beginning to explore the idea of developing a local indoor farmers market co-op at the site, city leaders may be looking to rent it out quickly - thereby nixing the idea before it starts.

The Sumner Neighborhood Association is advocating that every local resident who would support the idea of a local co-op either show up at tonight's meeting of the Sumner City Council to share your views during public comment or otherwise contact your councilmembers.

The urgent tone of the message on the association's website (click here to read) is due to concern that Mayor Dave Enslow announced during the March 11 council study session that he was shopping for a renter not only for this property but also for 85 acres of city-owned farmland formerly rented to Ota Farms.

Councilmembers Nancy Dumas announced during a February meeting that she was forming a committee to look into turning the Red Apple building into a co-op that would not only provide local farmers, artisans and crafters a venue to sell their products but generate additional foot traffic to support the entire downtown. Councilmember Randy Hynek supported this idea during that Feb. 25 meeting.

Hynek's own vision for a farmers market takes a step back to the actual land that the food products would come from, and it's why he wants to keep the former site of Ota Farms open while the co-op committee develops a formal plan. Hynek said he'd like to find people who would rent the farm land and work the farm to supply produce to the farmer's market "so citizens are guaranteed into perpetuity produce at the farmers market. ... The biggest barrier to new farmers is the price of land."

A resolution is coming before council tonight brought forth by Hynek, to place a hold on any lease agreements for both properties for six months so the co-op committee has time to draw up a fully developed plan. Then citizens and lawmakers alike can have all options before them before deciding what they'd like to see in the city-owned properties.

Hynek said he first brought up the potential for a farmers market seven years ago but was told the building was structurally unsound and couldn't be rented. Dumas said after doing her own research and speaking to building officials, she was told it was still viable with repairs.

After she began her Table meetings last March, Dumas said citizens have shared their wish lists for the building. The potential for a local farmers market similar to Puyallup's and Olympia's was very popular.

"It's an eyesore," she said. "Right now, taxpayers pay for it and can't park there without getting a ticket. ... It's just a really expensive parking lot for city employees."

A farmers market type of co-op would give people who had great ideas but not a lot of start up capital or cash a way to put their ideas out there and start a small scale business, she said.

Local businesses could also have a presence in the building as a second venue that would encourage shoppers to walk back to their primary shop for more options thereby generating more foot traffic downtown, she said

The committee is studying how to create such a viable cooperative operation and pooling citizens expertise in marketing, retail and accounting, she said.

If Hynek's resolution does not pass and another renter is identified, the proper process is still to run the proposed lease agreements past the City Council for approval or rejection, Dumas said.

The Sumner City Council meeting begins at 7 p.m. in Council Chambers at City Hall.