Farmers market ordered out by state

Organizers and supporters of the Haleiwa Farmers’ Market said they are seeking ways to keep the popular Sunday market open, following an order by the state to vacate the site because of a state law that prohibits selling from public highways.

The market, which typically has about 60 vendors and attracts an estimated 2,500 shoppers each week, has operated since April 2009 on a triangle of agricultural-zoned land at the junction of Kamehameha Highway and Joseph P. Leong Highway.

The state Department of Transportation sent a certified letter to market owners Pamela Boyar and Annie Suite on April 5 to vacate the parcel, citing a statute that prohibits vending from public highways. The notice said the site occupied by the farmers market is covered by the law. The market was ordered to vacate within five days of the notice.

Boyar and Suite said they were caught off-guard by the letter, which they received Monday from their attorney. The market owners said that for the past year they have been working with transportation officials to fulfill conditions to obtain an annual agreement with the state, instead of the current month-to-month arrangement.

"We were expecting the annual lease to go into effect after April 30," Boyar said.

Department of Transportation spokesman Dan Meisenzahl said state officials were shocked as well when they learned, from the Department of the Attorney General, that vending is prohibited at the site.

State transportation officials had been consulting with the Attorney General’s office on conditions of the new agreement plans with the market when they were told vending is prohibited at the site.

"We weren’t aware of that situation, which is why we needed to act immediately," Meisenzahl said. "If anything happens on that right-of-way, we are responsible. We are liable."

As of Tuesday, about 300 people signed a petition to save the farmers market.

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Rep. Clift Tsuji said he set up a meeting for today with the market owners, state Transportation Director Glenn Okimoto and Highways Administrator Alvin Takeshita. Tsuji (D, Hilo-Glenwood), an advocate for small farmers, said he has received dozens of emails from farmers, vendors and patrons, some expressing disappointment with the state’s action.

Tsuji said he is hoping the meeting will allow the parties to find a solution — possibly a temporary suspension of the order or a short-term extension — to give the farmers market time to find another site.

Jeanne Vana, who grows North Shore Farms’ Big Wave tomatoes and sells her produce at the market, said the market site "is an idle piece of highway that no longer fits the definition of a highway."

Another vendor, LuAnn Casey, found out about the notice Tuesday. She and her husband, Gary Gunder, own Tin Roof Ranch in Haleiwa, where they produce organic eggs. The couple has sold 100 dozen eggs every Sunday since the inception of the market, generating $800 to $1,000 per day.

With the abrupt notice, Casey said, they need to figure out what to do with the 100 dozen eggs they planned to sell at the market this weekend. "Everybody is in shock and kind of outraged," Casey said. "People love the market."