Blueberries on aisle 3, eggs on aisle 15

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news to hard-working members of the Rural Lands Task Force, but two of three Clark County commissioners don’t agree with your recommendation to supersize temporary roadside stands.

During a Feb. 2 work session on code updates, Jan Bazala of the county’s code-writing office said the task force recommends increasing the size of temporary roadside stands from 300 square feet to 2,500 square feet.

Commissioner Marc Boldt laughed.

“What, will it be a Walmart pretty soon?” Boldt asked Bazala.

Commissioner Tom Mielke didn’t have a problem with the idea. He also didn’t like it when Bazala said if commissioners accept the recommendation, it will trigger a new set of rules to address sight-distance, building code and parking issues.

“I don’t want to fix a problem that we don’t have,” Mielke said.

He also doesn’t think temporary stands should be limited to selling agricultural products. Anything homemade should be allowed, Mielke said.

Under current code, operators of temporary roadside stands don’t need to go through a plan review.

And it’s likely to stay that way.

Commissioner Steve Stuart, who was not at the work session, said the next day he was with Boldt on the issue. If you take a 300-square-foot stand and multiply it by eight, you no longer have a stand, he said.

“That’s a store.”