Boulder County postpones action on Niwot-area ‘demonstration farm’
The Boulder County commissioners have postponed, until at least April 12, deciding whether to impose additional limits or conditions on the continued operation of a private “demonstration farm” they originally authorized in January 2010.
Commissioners heard more than an hour and a half of testimony Thursday from supporters and critics of the Willow Way Wellness and Permaculture Farm at 6481 N. 63rd St., west of Niwot.
The farm provides workshops and classes for adults and children in a variety of sustainable-agriculture, gardening and energy- and water-conservation practices on its 2-acre property.
“We have been able to take important steps toward sustainability,” Willow Way owner Zia Parker told the county commissioners during their first annual review of the farm’s special-use permit from the county.
Parker noted Boulder County’s stated policies of promoting small-market farming and sustainable agriculture techniques, and she asked: “What is the county doing to support and protect me in this endeavor?”
However, several neighboring property owners complained that Parker hasn’t complied with some of the requirements and conditions commissioners set last year, including restrictions about the locations, the months and the times of day of classes being held there.
Diana Wartburg, 6475 N. 63rd St., charged that Parker “has shown that she has little regard” for county land-use regulations or Willow Way’s neighbors.
Dave Wartburg said the way Parker operates the farm and its classes “causes constant problems, disruptions to this neighborhood.”
But Richard Trainer, who said his property at 6122 Monarch Road is “just around the corner from Zia’s property,” said that for the most part, other neighbors’ objections “are nit-picking” in an effort “to get Zia to throw up her arms and quit.”
County commissioners said they were running out of time to hear further presentations from Parker and their own staff and to make any decision that day. They decided to resume their consideration of continuing Willow Way’s demonstration-farm status at 2 p.m. April 12.
http://www.dailycamera.com/boulder-county-news/ci_17748007
