AIM Permanent Farmers Market at Marin Civic Center

The Agricultural Institute of Marin (AIM), in partnership with Marin County, is proposing to develop a portion of the Marin Civic Center Campus as a permanent location for the Marin Farmers Market and a new Center for Food and Agriculture. AIM is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that currently operates a Farmers Market elsewhere on the Civic Center Campus two days per week. The Project location is the “Christmas Tree Lot,” a currently undeveloped portion of the Civic Center Campus located at the intersection of Peter Behr Drive and Civic Center Drive, in the northwesternmost part of the Campus, in the City of San Rafael. 

The Project would develop permanent facilities for AIM, including a covered market stall area, a visitor center, a small office building, a commercial kitchen, an educational building, restrooms, a food-storage container, and a walk-in refrigerator. The Project includes relocating the current Marin Farmers Market, which operates on Thursday and Sunday at parking lots within the Civic Center Campus, to the new location, and adding a third weekly market. When not in use, the market stall area would serve as a parking lot. 

The proposed buildings would house the Center for Food and Agriculture (“CFA”) and would be used for educational and other activities. These activities would include classes on food preparation and other topics related to food and agriculture, training workshops for producers, and an educational speakers series with chefs and farmers, with indoor capacity capped at 75 attendees. No activities would be allowed that would compete with activities at the Marin Center.