Stand on Sauvie Island.
(Photos © J. Maus)
Farmer Don Kruger, owner of Kruger’s Farm Market on Sauvie Island, says he’s “hanging tough” after the recent Multnomah County decision on his farm stand permit.
During a standard permit update process that was triggered by a complaint from one of Kruger’s neighbors, the County ruled that Kruger is no longer allowed to host several of the activities that have made his farm a popular destination for many in the Portland region.
In their decision, the County ruled that the only fee-based activities that can happen at the farm are weekly “harvest festivals” and the corn maze. As for bike races, the County wrote that, “The bike races are inconsistent with the code criteria and are not an activity that promotes the sale of farm crops.”
“I think the people that come out to bike races fit much more than the teenage, drunken crowd that comes out for the haunted corn mazes… that’s why I don’t do one.”
— Don Kruger
Kruger told me via telephone this morning that the process of dealing with the County “has been brutal,” (it’s also cost him about $30,000 in legal fees so far) but that he and his lawyers are “coming up with a game plan,” for how to move forward.
Kruger does not plan to appeal the decision (in part because it would mean an immediate end to his concert series; the deadline for an appeal is next Wednesday). Instead, he and his lawyers will try to work within the permit framework to try and hold the events Kruger says are vital to his farm’s future.
According to Kruger, his top priority is to work with his lawyers to make bike races fit under the County’s Mass Gathering Ordinance. That ordinance allows farm stands in the Exclusive Farm Use zone to hold mass events once per quarter.
Kruger said he’s willing to turn over all four of his mass gathering events to bike races; “I’ve told Kris [bike race promoter Kris Schamp] that I’m willing to give the bike races all of them. I think we could have a wonderful, quarterly celebration, with each bike race in a different season.”
Kruger loves the bike races and the people that come to them and he doesn’t understand why the County won’t allow bike racing but they will allow haunted corn mazes. “I think the people that come out to bike races fit much more than the teenage, drunken crowd that comes out for the haunted corn mazes,” he said, “that’s why I don’t do one… the one on the other side of the island is a circus, it’s Disneyland.”
popular bike race venue.
He continued; “What justification does a corn maze have, versus me having a bike race? What if we just had a bicycle corn maze out here and the course just happens to expand?”
Some people say that the County is doing their job by preserving Kruger’s land for farm use only (an important land use, for sure), but Mr. Kruger contends that the legislative intent of the farm stand ordinance specifically allows farms to do events to survive. “The law is very clear, it says I can do things that are fee-based as long as the proceeds don’t exceed 25% of farm stand sales.”
So why did the county say no to bike races? “It’s all interpretation,” Kruger says, “and right now this is how they’ve interpreted it.”
Another thought some commenters have had was, ‘Why not just make the bike races free?’ (thus, getting around the “fee-based activities” stipulation). Kruger said that could be an option. He envisions that the race entry fee could come in the form of a purchase from his store. But for now, Kruger doesn’t want to push that issue. He’d rather let the dust settle and figure out his legal options.
For now, Kruger says he’d love to have a lot of people on bikes show up to the concert planned for tomorrow night. “Bring your bike, you’re welcome to ride around the farm. Find your course, ride wherever you want, it’s all open,” he said.
Kruger is disappointed that this has become such a cat-and-mouse game with the County, but he’s determined to find a way to work things out. He’s also saddened by the amount of vitriol that has been spewed at him (in part, he says, because of inaccurate news reports about the situation).
Kruger is proud that, after being broke in 2002, he clawed his way back to buy the farm and make it successful. But business success aside, he gets passionate when he talks about his vision for the land.
“My vision is to do even more, to buy the back eight acres… This is a public farm, people can do anything they want here. Without me, you’d have a gate and a commercial nursery here; and many people who are saying horrible things about me would rather have that. But the public, the people who deserve this island, don’t feel that way.”