Organizers of two Islamorada farmers markets recently expressed their frustrations to council members over the village not only deeming the events flea markets, but also notifying them to cease immediately.
Michael Anzalone and Jae Jans together put on a farmers market at MM 81 and MM 80.9, oceanside, every Sunday. Not long ago, the two received letters from the village’s code compliance department to shut down — the reason being that the development services director characterized them as flea markets. Issues of parking and public safety were also a concern.
Such events require temporary use permits to operate, but the village isn’t issuing those out any time soon (see story, this page).
Councilman Henry Rosenthal placed a discussion topic on the Feb. 25 meeting agenda to allow the public the opportunity to speak on the matter. Rosenthal said the village was close to shutting down Anzalone and Jans’ market event on Feb. 21, but held out to allow for discussion four days later.
“I feel it’s important for vendors to have the opportunity to be heard on their position,” Rosenthal said.
The first among the public to speak, Anzalone said the brick and mortar establishments in his Galleria Shopping Plaza complained that the farmers market next door was consuming all their parking. He called Maria Bassett, interim village manager, to see what could be done.
“I was told the farmers market didn’t require a special event permit. It was an approved use,” he said.
Anzalone said he also called then Capt. Corey Bryan to get his take on parking. Anzalone was told if he wanted to control parking, “sit out there and control it.” While suggestions of towing away illegally parked vehicles was suggested by some, Anzalone said he didn’t want to do that.
“If I sit there and a farmers market is an approved use in a highway commercial zoning, I would put a couple tents out there on my own, which I did,” he said. “It was very rewarding to the fact that I got to meet people who are just trying to survive from COVID-19. A lot of them had their own stores but lost them.”
Anzalone contends the vendors who show up to the farmers market in Islamorada also frequent markets in Big Pine Key, municipal property on Key Colony Beach and Key West.
“These vendors make the circuit, they go from one to the next to the next and repeated,” he said.
Jae Jans, manager of the Florida Keys Farmers Market next door, said he believed it would be premature for the council to vote on shutting farmers market events down. He said they’ve been operating as a farmers market for four years. He said there’s a distinction between an event and a permitted use.
“If we need to work with the village council on a definition, all along I’ve been open to that,” he said. “I responded to the initial request from the code compliance officer with a detailed response, and I haven’t received a call or a response email from a single person in the village.”
Jans said not allowing a farmers market affects the ability to pay property taxes and mortgages. And it affects the livelihoods of 50-plus small businesses. He recommended the village work on a definition and adopt the Florida Department of Agricultural and Consumers definition of a community farmers market.
Kelly Perez, who has lived in Key Largo her entire life, said a farmers market is essential to the economy and small business, and it’s “not a flea market in any way.”
“There’s mostly only homemade goods and a lot of produce as well as agriculture,” she said. “How is it possible our farmers market is marked unsafe when everybody is wearing a mask and it’s outside. And there are so many bars and restaurants open who allow their people to not even mask or anything and still stand in these massive pools of people. It’s unfair when we all follow the rules.”
Council members agreed that a definition should be created for a farmers market. Councilman Mark Gregg said the issue might need to go through the Land Planning Agency, a village advisory committee, before there’s staff recommendation. And it might even warrant a workshop, he said.
“It’s going to take a while to get to the finish line on this. This is not something we’re not going to snap our fingers and fix,” he said.
Mayor Buddy Pinder agreed, stating that staff needs to “look at this a little more and come up with a definition.”
