Councilmembers have tough questions for urban farm proposal

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A presentation to a council committee on an urban farm failed to get off the ground on Wednesday, but the project will be resubmitted before the end of the year.

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Sunspring Farms was launching a three-way partnership between its business, the city of Calgary and Fresh Routes to test a hydroponic operation in a shed adjacent to the city-owned Armor Block heritage building.

The Council’s executive committee heard a report on the planned project, in which $250,000 from the Council’s Innovation Fund could be earmarked to support the program.

However, council members joked that the affair was more like an episode of the business reality show “Dragon’s Den” as questions were raised about Sunspring’s plans.

The councilors repeatedly asked to clarify whether the money from the City Council’s Innovation Fund would be a loan or a grant, and whether it would help a private company.

“It’s a great idea,” Count said. Dan McLean. “You can hardly criticize something like this. It is a great business model. But that is different from a business plan.”

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Earl Peter Demong said he was uncomfortable with the idea that the city’s money would go to a private entity.

Mayor Jyoti Gondek tried to clarify the plan with her own line of questioning. She reminded management that the idea, as she understood it, was to provide space for Sunspring to operate. The city would benefit from seeing if such a pilot project could be replicated throughout Calgary.

Speaking to reporters outside the council chambers, Gondek said the communication breakdown was due, in part, to the way the report was written.

“When we write reports that aren’t clear on their intent, we get into a weird world of going down rabbit holes, because committee members interpret the record a certain way,” the mayor said.

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She said she understands the $250,000 will be used to create an integrated civic facility that would be an adaptive reuse of an existing city-owned asset.

Gondek said there has been a general problem lately with administration reports causing confusion for councilmembers.

“Those reports need to be much more concise,” Gondek said. “They need to get to the point where they need to tell us what we’re discussing, and sometimes that doesn’t happen.”

Count Jasmine Mian moved to refer the report to the administration for further work, specifically around explaining the intent of the city’s funding and explaining the benefits to the city.

That motion was approved and the administration will report before the end of the year.

“I feel like there’s something really cool here,” Mian said. “I think we’re starting to get into trouble and maybe it’s just the way the presentation was presented.”

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