Sandy • City officials are threatening to shut down a family-run plant nursery that has been operating in the community for years, saying it is violation of ordinances requiring a business license and site improvements.
Supporters of Kuwahara Wholesale — and there are many of them — say the city is being too harsh.
“For mine and my family’s sake please don’t shut off my power, gas, water, or give me criminal charges because I’m growing plants on my own property,” owner Alex Kuwahara said during a recent Sandy City Council meeting.
“All I want to to do is grow and sell plants and support local farmers by selling local produce,” Kuwahara said.
Dozens of supporters showed up to back Kuwahara at the Feb. 18 meeting, and his fiancee, Sarah Morris, presented the Council with petitions signed by about 11,000 people asking the city to let the nursery open this spring.
“I just want to tell you that Alex Kuwahara is a good honest man. I’ve worked with him for several years, I trust him, he pays his bills," Steven Kirksiek, manager at a family-owned nursery in Beaver, told council members. "And he’s a man that’s trying to make a business and make a living.”
History of the property
Kuwahara said his great-grandmother, Martha Conish, began selling fresh-cut flowers from her greenhouses as early as 1947. Later, his mother opened a "Herbs for Health store with a home-occupation permit, where Alex came to work in spring of 2012, growing plants in the greenhouse in the backyard and selling them on the porch of the store.
“The community responded with open arms [and] the business flourished,” he said in his written history of the property.
He said the business first attracted the city’s attention when he expanded to the front and side yards and set up a flower display in view of the road. Still, Kuwahara said he was told he could continue operating on the home business permit as long as he only sold plants and flowers grown on the property.
But in subsequent years, as he attempted to expand, the city demanded that improvements be made to curb and gutter, parking and landscaping; that the family obtain a commercial license; and urged Kuwahara to apply for a zone change.
Running negotiations and conflict with the city came to a head on Oct. 17, when Sandy Mayor Kurt Bradburn sent a letter to Kuwahara and his grandmother Carole Ann Rea telling them to stop all business at their location, 8565 S. State St., or the city would pursue criminal or civil charges, according to a copy of the letter.
“Any person violating any of the provisions of [Title 15, ‘Business Licensing’ of the Sandy City Municipal Code] shall be guilty of a Class B misdemeanor,” it said.
If Kuwahara is issued a criminal citation and convicted of violating city code, sentences can include a fine up to $1,000 for an individual or $5,000 for a corporation, probation or imprisonment according to the letter from Bradburn.
“A person who has been convicted of a class B misdemeanor may be sentenced to a term in the City or County jail not to exceed six months," said the letter.
While Kuwahara said some city officials indicated the business would be allowed to continue to operate if it kept working on the site plan and requirements, he said he was informed in December that Kuwahara was barred from opening in the spring unless the entire site plan and upgrades were completed — an expense he estimated at $1.3 million.
Kuwahara wrote on his “Save Sandy Kuwahara” webpage that the family felt it had been “betrayed” and “attacked.”
“If we would have known we would not be able to be open, we would have not continued because we are now at a point where we have to sell everything we own to pay off these huge bills or just lose it all,” he wrote.
Violations
Officials from several Sandy City departments said their hands are tied because the business does not meet city code and despite months and repeated attempts to work with Kuwahara, the requirements haven’t been met.
Fire Marshall Robert DeKorver said he found 11 fire code violations on the property when he inspected it last August.
“These were not imminent life-threatening violations, but they were still violations of fire code that needed to be rectified in order for us to be able to sign off on a business license,” DeKorver said.
He clarified that the Kuwaharas did actively work with the fire department to try to make corrections. “Our job is not to put businesses out of business. We want to work with every business in the city. We want to make sure that we are meeting code because code is state law.”
Chief building official for Sandy City, Scott Marsell, said several buildings on the property lacked needed permits and inspections for structural, mechanical and electrical installations. He said he has worked with Kuwahara for at least two years on the issue.
“It just seems like we meet with him, he says that he understands what needs to be done, but then nothing gets done. It’s just going around in circles. I have to do my job, I have to make sure that the buildings are safe.”
But Kuwahara said the issues presented to him weren’t about safety and he has continued to spend “tens of thousands of dollars on this site plan” after indications he could keep operating while he continued working on compliance issues.
He has posted a list of expenditures he said he has made to date that add up to more than $54,000.
Kuwahara asked the City Council to grant him a temporary food stand permit to sell his plants without requiring a full commercial site plan or, alternatively, to let him sell what he grows on his own property without a license.
Morris, the owner’s fiancee, said she has watched him work 12 to 14 hours a day because he loves what he does. She argued that their six-month agricultural business should have different requirements than a year-round commercial business.
“We are not different from the other businesses in our market. And we are not the redheaded stepchild,” Morris said, adding the site plan keeps being delayed because the city keeps adding requirements.
Several of the dozens of supporters of Kuwahara at the council meeting testified to his character and work ethic. And fellow business owner Mariah Baird said it shouldn’t be so difficult to meet the requirements.
“I understand that there are codes and regulations but it should be something that’s attainable and something that’s realistic for these people,” Baird said.
Kuwahara Wholesale employee Wendy Jansen testified about Alex’s character.
“The last few years, Alex has employed six people with autism all from Sandy. And with Alex being a caring person and a small business, these people were able to get and keep a job that they couldn’t in a big business. They are functioning members of society.”
The council meeting ended without any resolution of the conflict and no vote or plan of action.
Deputy Mayor Evelyn Everton declined further comment on the matter Friday.