The dispute over the location of the town’s popular farmers market hasn’t been resolved, but it appears that an agreement is near between those who operate the market and the layer of government that oversees the square-mile Litchfield Borough in the center of town.
The Litchfield Borough of Warden and Burgesses offered an update on the Litchfield Hills Farm Fresh Market situation at its regular meeting Tuesday. The issue is being handled by market master Kay Carroll and borough board member Dirk Patterson.
Mr. Patterson reported to borough members that he had met with Ms. Carroll once and made progress, and his guess was that they would meet twice more.
At this point, he said, he had nothing further to add. He indicated that he hoped to report something at the next meeting in February.
In September, the borough issued a cease-and-desist order to the farmers market, and then in October borough board members decided to work on a new application with those who oversee the market, operated under the auspices of the nonprofit Litchfield Hill’s Food Systems, Inc. Borough officials have taken a hard line on issues relating to parking spaces and traffic flow with regard to the market, which operates in the warmer months in a parking lot at Litchfield Center School, and at one point declared that a permit application for the market was denied.
In the past, visitors to the farmers market were not allowed to return to Route 202, but were directed to instead go through the quiet residential neighborhood.
The issue of the market’s location off Route 202, the number of parking spaces available and the traffic flow have been simmering issues for months.