Sugar Land City Council unanimously approved a proposal for the Farmers Market at Imperial to temporarily relocate to the Imperial Park Recreation Center parking lot at 234 Matlage Way, Sugar Land, during Tuesday’s regular meeting.

The farmers market, which was originally meant to last about six weeks, has been a weekly event at the old Imperial Sugar refinery since Oct. 1, 2011, said Kimberly Terrell, assistant director of parks and recreation.

Officials with the farmers market announced in November the weekly event would close to make way for Imperial Market developments. However, it was announced Dec. 8 the market would remain open indefinitely at its original location until plans for the new location were complete. The market will be open at the old Imperial Sugar refinery Jan. 6. However, weekly operations will commence at the new site Jan. 13, said Keri Schmidt, Fort Bend Chamber of Commerce president and CEO.

Although the new space is temporary, the market will likely be hosted at Imperial Park Recreation Center for the next two years, as construction on transforming Imperial Market will be ongoing, Terrell said.

The market will still be run by the Fort Bend Chamber of Commerce every Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., and approximately 45 vendor spaces will be available, which is comparable to the market’s current size.

Looking ahead, the long-term plan for the market is to settle back into Imperial Market, City Planner Douglas Schomburg said. A potential option is to permanently relocate the market to the corridor in front of the three-bay warehouse once construction is complete at Imperial Market, Schomburg said.