Some Merchants Want to Remove Farmers Market

A group of La Plaza merchants has asked city officials to move the weekly farmers market from the shopping center’s parking lot because they say the open-air mart causes traffic, noise and other problems.

“It’s detrimental,” Rick Scalzo, owner of Scalzo Brothers Auto Parts, told city officials this week. “We want you to find a better location that suits [the market’s] needs as our location suits our needs.”

“Sometimes the trucks don’t leave until 8 p.m.,” said Paul Hennessey, owner of Hennessey’s Tavern. “We lose lunch and dinner business.”

Interim City Manager Dayle Keller told the merchants that officials would look into the situation and report back by Wednesday.

Manager Rick Heil denied the market was a nuisance. He said city officials chose the location for the market.

“They wanted it in the Plaza to bring the community together,” he said.

The year-round market consists of about 25 farmers who sell everything from tomatoes and turnips to gourmet jams and grapes from stands in the parking lot. All of the farmers grow the products they sell and have been certified by the county and the Department of Agriculture, said Heil, who also operates a farmers market in San Clemente.

The city hired Heil in 1995 to manage the market and recently renewed his contract for another year.

But the contract can be canceled under certain circumstances, including if the market hinders public use of the center; if the area is needed for public purposes; and if the city concludes that continued use of the market poses a safety risk to property or people, said John Sherman, the city’s economic development manager.

The City Council is also required to hold a public hearing to determine whether the market has lived up to its contractual obligations before any action is taken.

Not all La Plaza merchants favor moving the market.

“We have gotten business from the farmers market,” said Jane Delson of Dana Niguel Travel. “We like it there and our customers like it.”

Shopper Kissandra Scott, 23, of Laguna Niguel said she hoped the market stays because she enjoys the vendors and their produce.

“I love it,” she said. “The atmosphere is great and the prices are pretty good.”