Update : Follow-up on the news : Flower Sales at Farmers Market Are Nipped in the Bud

Despite residents’ clamoring for the return of flower sales at the farmers market, the City Council has decided to stick with its ban against the blooms.

Residents quickly grew accustomed to buying cut flowers at the open-air market when it opened in the school district parking lot in June.

But local florists complained to the City Council that the sales were undercutting their profits.

When the market moved to its current location at the city-owned Lumberyard parking lot next to City Hall, the council imposed the ban.

After receiving complaints from residents, Councilman Steve Dicterow asked his colleagues to reconsider the policy at the meeting Tuesday.

But after testimony from about a dozen people on both sides of the issue, the council unanimously decided to stick with the prohibition.

The decision was based on the council’s desire to support local businesses that must pay rent and sales taxes and therefore cannot offer the lower prices, Mayor Wayne L. Peterson said.