Josh Kadavy attended yet another government meeting Monday night on his journey through the bureaucratic maze that he hopes will lead to another maze -- a corn maze.
Kadavy is asking the City Council to create a new zoning category, an agricultural attraction, so he can get on with his dream of operating a pumpkin patch each fall.
Kadavy and his wife, Amanda, want to grow and sell pumpkins, build a corn maze, take people on hayrack rides, have a petting zoo and play area and sell concessions on his 20-acre home near North 14th Street and Bluff Road.
Kadavy already has been to at least a dozen meetings, appointments and hearings trying to get permission for the pumpkin patch.
He had to give up plans to have a haunted house. He had to change the roadway into the property to satisfy the county engineer's safety concerns and he's is still trying to convince the Lancaster County Board to reduce its requirement for $5 million in liability insurance.
Kadavy's property is in the country, but still within the city's three-mile jurisdiction.
And Kadavy's business proposal does not fit under any of the city's zoning permits, said Marvin Krout, Planning Department director.
So the city is considering creating a new category for the pumpkin patch venture. The City Council is expected to vote on the zoning change at its June 6 meeting.
Even with that change in city rules, Kadavy still will have to get County Board approval.
Kadavy told the council Monday that he wants to have family-centered events, and sell concessions for about five weekends in the fall.
