By Jorge Casuso

March 21, 2012 -- The City Council Tuesday night clarified the process by which participants can be suspended from the Framers Market and purchased land for the expansion of its Corporation Yards.

The amendment to the Farmers Market regulations lays out the procedures to discipline participants who engage in such violations as selling produce they didn't grow, fighting, drinking alcohol or using drugs or using foul or threatening language. It also requires all participants to obtain a business license.

Under the amendment to the regulations approved in 2010, "after due process, which includes an office hearing and Departmental Hearing, a participant may be subject to permanent expulsion from all Santa Monica Farmers Markets," staff wrote.

"An office hearing allows the market participant an opportunity to respond to the allegations about the violation, provide other information that may have been overlooked and further discuss the matter with the Farmers Market Supervisor," according to staff.

The written determination can be appealed to the Housing and Economic Development.

There have been two disciplinary hearings since the rules went into effect.

The amendment also waives unpaid business license fees through the current fiscal year, but requires farmers to obtain licenses after July 1.

The practice of not requiring business licenses "was based on staff's misunderstanding of the municipal code and not the fault of the participants," staff wrote.

In a separate consent calendar item, the council voted to acquire a property located at 2322 Michigan Avenue that could be used for the reconstruction of the City's 60-year-old Corporation Yards.

The City will pay $2.2 million for the 12,223-square foot property, with the seller financing $700,000 at five percent interest, fully amortized over a ten-year term.

There are currently two structures on the property, one occupied by an architecture firm whose lease expires in August, the other by tenants who engage ion diverse uses on a month-to-month basis.