IDAHO FALLS — The future of the U-Pick Red Barn pumpkin patch in Idaho Falls is uncertain following a City Council meeting Thursday night.
The Idaho Falls City Council brokered a compromise of sorts between U-Pick Red Barn Owner Rollie Walker and the city’s Community Development Services Director Wade Sanner, voting unanimously to send the two parties to mediation after a marathon four-hour appeal hearing that stretched past midnight.
In a second motion, the Council also voted four to one uphold the Board of Adjustment’s (BOA) Dec. 17 decision to revoke U-Pick Red Barn’s conditional use permit.
“It revokes the conditional use permit that allows agricultural tourism,” explained City of Idaho Falls spokesman Eric Grossarth after the hearing.
In other words, the land’s owners can still sell pumpkins, but they can’t hold agricultural tourist activities until a site plan is approved and a building permit is issued.
The land’s current light manufacturing zoning is not affected, Grossarth said.
At the quasi-judicial hearing, the City Council could have chosen to “uphold, reverse or remand the Dec. 17 decision of the Board of Adjustment to revoke U-Pick Red Barn’s conditional-use permit,” according to City Attorney Mike Kirkham.
20 years in business
The U-Pick Red Barn pumpkin patch, located at 2822 McNeil Drive, is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year and was visited by 20,000 guests in 2024, Walker said.
“It’s my passion! If you haven’t been to U-Pick Red Barn, you need to go. You need to go and just watch families. It defines ‘happy.’ It defines joy,” Walker said.
The park features pumpkin cannons, straw mazes, jump pads, a train ride, slides, pumpkin sales, chickens and food — including Neapolitan-style pizza.
Each year, it hosts an annual fireworks show on Oct. 1 in honor of McNeil Walker, Rollie’s 21-year-old son who was killed after being hit by a tractor on his way home from Hamer to work at the pumpkin patch.
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McNeil had initially founded the patch as a 10-year-old boy with his 11-year-old cousin Chase.
“It’s a pumpkin patch. It taught the boys to work. It taught them how to earn money. But do you know what’s better, it taught them how to build the public,” Walker said. “… They had to interact with the people. That is really good for kids.”
Small business under fire?
In 2023, the city was informed of several code violations at the barn, including the pizza oven and the addition of a silo that lacked a site plan and building permit.
More recently, the city stated that Walker would need to give up a right-of-way and easements for future expansion and utilities on Rollandet Avenue as conditions for having his site plan approved.
Gary Cooper, Walker’s lawyer, said because Walker was unwilling to do so, city inspectors denied U-Pick Red Barn the building permit and site plan required to operate.
“Now we are faced with a challenge — the very people who should be supporting local business, fostering growth, encouraging success and embracing what we’ve built are shutting us down,” said U-Pick Red Barn Manager Alison Shindurling at the meeting. “… Time and time again, we submitted revised plans only to see new requirements and road blocks added.”
Shindurling agreed that the permit was revoked for two reasons.
“We opened without an approved site plan and without a permit for our pizza kitchen,” Shindurling said.
Cooper stated that much progress has been made, and it is “an abuse of (the BOA’s) discretion to revoke a conditional use permit when you are that close” — which he described as 90% to 99% close — to reaching an agreement.
He quoted Sanner’s comments at the Board of Adjustment’s December meeting, that as of Dec. 11, “’We do have a site plan and a building permit that we’re willing to sign off.’”
The city’s case
In addition to lacking an approved site plan and building permit, Sanner reinforced that U-Pick Red Barn’s conditional use permit was revoked because Walker continued to operate in fall 2024, despite the city posting a “do not occupy” notice on the buildings.
“(This) is a direct violation of the international building code and against all health safety regulations that are imposed to us by the state,” Sanner said.
The Community Development Services director stated that his organization exists to help the city grow.
“We want private businesses to flourish within our community. That’s a goal of everyone in my department. These things were not imposed. He chose them, and in the end, the conditions were imposed by the Board of Adjustment, who had land use authority,” Sanner said. “He did not comply with them. It is very clear he opened in violation to his conditional use, and that is why it was revoked.”
About 50 people filled the City Council chamber to watch Thursday’s hearing. Council President Lisa Burtenshaw and and Council Members Michelle Ziel-Dingman, Jim Francis and Kirk Larsen voted to uphold the Board of Adjustment’s decision. Council Member Jim Freeman voted against it.
Council Member John Radford was away on business.
The city and U-Pick Red Barn have 28 days from Thursday to set up a time for mediation to begin.
Representatives on both sides expressed optimism an agreement can be reached before the barn opens for its 20th year in September.
The full meeting can be viewed on the city’s website under the link to the last agenda item indexed as 5. E1.
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