Booths would be banned on the Santa Fe Plaza's grassy areas if the City Council approves a proposal by Councilors Chris Calvert and Patti Bushee.

Nonprofits and other groups that sponsor annual events on the historic square say such a ban would put a major dent in their activities. But Calvert maintains the change would preserve the Plaza's grass for everyone.

"I'm simply trying to protect this resource for the benefit of the entire community," he said, "instead of sacrificing it to the use of a few who will profit by its use."

The city has been forced to replace sod every spring because of damage from intensive use and heavy trampling during crafts fairs and other summer events.

The proposed ordinance would prohibit "placing booths, tables or similar objects that would mat the grass on the grassed areas of the Plaza Park; or using grassed areas for the purpose of customer access to a booth, table or similar object."

A warning would be issued for the first offense, a $50 fine imposed for the second and a $100 fine for the third. The change also would make enforcement the responsibility of "designated city staff" rather than the city police.

Said Calvert: "We're spending a considerable amount of money to renovate the Plaza — putting in grass and irrigation systems to support it. If we turn right around and allow everybody to put their booths or whatever thing they put on there that basically mats and kills the grass, I mean, it's kind of a waste in my opinion."

In recent months, parts of the Plaza have been fenced off temporarily so a contractor could remove old sod and two dead or dying trees; plant four new trees; install the new irrigation system, electrical conduits with junction boxes and new lighting fixtures; refurbish benches; install new concrete pads; repair flagstone and brick surfaces; and reshape areas to improve irrigation distribution.

Calvert and Bushee introduced the proposed policy change Jan. 28. It is scheduled to go to the Public Works Committee at 5:15 p.m. Monday in City Council Chambers, then to the Finance Committee on Feb. 16 and to the City Council for a final vote March 25.

The amendment would add placing booths on grassy areas to activities already banned on the Plaza — riding bicycles, unicycles or skateboards; throwing, kicking or striking "any type of recreational object"; or allowing animals to roam unleashed.

Parks Director Fabian Chavez said the contractor renovating the Plaza should be finished in two weeks, but it will be mid-April before it's warm enough to install new sod.

"It's not just the turf that gets worn out every year," he said. "The vendors or group of people who are standing on the sod, or on the growing zones where the dirt is, not only kills the grass, but causes a lot of compaction that is difficult for us to mitigate. ...

"You can replace the sod every year, but it's pretty hard to replace an old tree. A lot of folks are under the impression that those great big old trees have roots that go down 10 or 12 (feet). That's not true. They may spread for many, many feet in either direction, but the feeding roots — the roots that take in water and oxygen — are only in the upper 2 feet."

Bruce Bernstein, executive director of the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts, which sponsors Santa Fe's biggest tourist draw of the year, the Santa Fe Indian Market on the third weekend of August, estimated the ban would mean about 12 percent of the market's booths would have to be moved.

"We're kind of at the maximum of uses of city streets (where the other 88 percent of the market's booths are located), so I don't know where we would put those booths," he said.

But the more important factor, Bernstein said, would be that the ban would change the historic way the Plaza has been used as the center of commerce.

"I think about the centrality of the Plaza to Indian Market," he said. "One of the great aspects of market, one of the things that makes it so alive every year, is being around the Plaza."

Eight events are held on the Plaza each year, but Bernstein said "heritage events" — Indian Market, Spanish Market and La Fiesta de Santa Fe — deserve a priority over the five arts-and-crafts markets.

"These types of representations of heritage, this sort of cultural meanings and ties, that's what keeps people coming here," Bernstein said. "I would think Councilors Calvert and Bushee would have a longer view of the presence of just a few things around the city center."

Contact Tom Sharpe at 986-3080 or tsharpe@sfnewmexican.com.