It's not the ideal situation, but they will have to make the best it.
Ingrid Baron, Vernon Farmers Market manager, said the passing of a referendum approving a second ice sheet at Kal Tire Place will create challenges for the group that has been operating in the multiplex parking lot twice a week for the past 15 years.
“We are going to have to live with the results,” Baron said Monday. “We are going to be positive about it and make it work in the lot. We're going to have to down size a bit.”
Baron said the market will have to shrink by up to one-third to fit into the available space once the second ice sheet is built.
“They are building a building in the middle of the parking lot, so we are going to have to shrink. There is just not enough space there,” said Baron, adding parking will also be an issue.
Prior to the referendum, officials said only one actual parking spot would be lost, but Baron said the area for bus parking will also be lost which will take room away from the market.
Baron said for the market, it is imperative the parking lot be extended before any other work is done.
“During construction, the construction zone is even bigger than the building, so that takes quite a bit of extra space away,” she said.
It is expected to take three years for the new arena to be complete.
Baron said the ideal situation would have been to have the new ice sheet go on the west side of Kal Tire Place, but that would infringe on the Kin Race Track land. A dispute over usage of that land has been in court for several years.
City officials have said building on the race track land is not an option at this time.
“We're going to have to make best of the situation. It is still better than us moving to a different spot because we are established where we are. When a business moves, it takes years to catch up,” said Baron.
The farmers market was given the option of moving to the parking lot next to the performing arts centre, but the group declined saying the space was too small.
“When we moved to Kal Tire Place we grew in to it, and even then we capped it because we could have gotten bigger,” she said.
The outdoor market starts up again in April.
“The area will be preloaded for sure, but that won't be too bad because there won't be any moving vehicles. I'm still not sure how they are going to make this work for other events that need to get in and out of there.”