Livingstone College’s plan to start an urban farm stalled Tuesday.

The city’s Planning Board was set to have a hearing on a special use permit for the farm, which would be on land the college owns along Locke Street, south of Old Plank Road, between Brenner Avenue and Grace Street southwest of the main campus.

But, a representative for the college was not at the meeting. Apparently there was a scheduling mix up.

Because a representative from the college was not there, the board voted 5-4 against opening the hearing. Three members of the board were not at the meeting.

The board could have opened the hearing and heard testimony from Preston Mitchell, the city’s Planning and Development Services manager, before issuing a recommendation on the permit.

If the board had opened the hearing, heard Mitchell’s testimony and still wanted to hear from Livingstone, it would’ve had to leave the quasi-judicial hearing open until its next scheduled meeting when a representative from the college could be there to testify and answer any questions.

The permit request likely would’ve been on the agenda for next week’s City Council meeting. But now, Livingstone will have to wait until the Planning Board’s next meeting, Nov. 25, to get the process going again.

Plans for the farm have been in the works for months, and the city has been accommodating. It’s amended its land use ordinance to include language about urban farms.

The news about Livingstone’s plans for an urban farm sparked interest from other residents in the city. Mitchell told the Post in August his department had taken a number of calls from people interested in starting urban farms in the city.

Since urban farming is unprecedented in the city limits under the current land development ordinance, the Planning Board recommended a special use permit be approved by city council for most urban farming practices.

Contact reporter David Purtell at 704-797-4264