90-day permit approved for Mustard Seed ‘ghost kitchen’

By ANNA SMITH Local Journalism Initiative on February 20, 2025.

asmith@medicinehatnews.com

The Mustard Seed’s former Community Impact Centre has been approved for use as a commercial kitchen by staff, though only for the next three months.

The application came through the municipal planning commission on Wednesday, initially proposed to be for the next year. The space was proposed to not be accessible to the public, but used to prepare meals for those staying at the Eighth Street shelter location.

“The terminology that we’re using with this, that was suggested by the city planning staff, is for a ‘ghost kitchen,'” said Mustard Seed CEO James Gardiner during the meeting. “The purpose is to prepare food on site by our staff and volunteers, not to be consumed on site, but to be consumed off site.”

The kitchen will also be used during any emergency situations where they are asked to deliver food to other locations, said Gardiner, but the building will not be accessible to the public at any point. He anticipated that roughly 5-10 people, both staff and volunteers, would be working in the building at any point.

Concerns were raised by the public regarding a possible increased intensity of use at the Eighth Street location, but it was explained that there would be no transfer of services from the Allowance Avenue location at this time.

The permit has been approved for 90 days, to be brought before the committee again at that time.

MPC member and Coun. Shila Sharps commented that some of the frustration with the movement on the issue may lie with council, and that she believes the shorter permit will keep the issue in front of the community, and “keep us accountable in front of the community.”

This decision was received as an acceptable outcome by members of the community, such as Clay Stevens, owner of the Starlite Convenience Store.

“They do need to continue their operations, but they do have to be monitored to make sure that they actually follow what they are supposed to be doing,” said Stevens. “I believe that the city putting a three-month restriction on it is very good, because it actually forces the city to start co-operating more with the Mustard Seed, to find them an actual building that they can operate out of that’s not going to be destructive to the community.”

For Gardiner, meanwhile, there is a feeling of gratitude, as it means his organization will be able to feed those who are staying at the shelter. He explained that there is not capacity to prepare meals at the Eighth Street location, so this permit allows a continued mandate to assist those dealing with food insecurity.

“We also appreciated the comments from one of the commissioners who’s also in council, that the city needs to take great ownership of finding a long-term solution,” said Gardiner. “It’s something that we’ve been saying and asking for since last fall, and so it’s nice to see that get into the public domain, that greater ownership needs to happen at the municipal level, and we’re certainly more than pleased to work alongside in whatever capacity the city would see us playing.”

He said there is currently no update on the search for a consolidated location. The Allowance location is still scheduled to close to public access on Feb 28.

14
-13