The Encinitas City Council on Wednesday will consider whether to allow the Leucadia Farmers Market to relocate to Oak Crest Middle School as planned.
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The market, a beloved weekly Sunday event at Paul Ecke-Central Elementary for some 20 years, is being forced to move due to a major school renovation project that’s beginning this month and will last until fall 2027.
Officials with the Leucadia 101 Main Street Association, which sponsors the market, have said that finding a new, large-enough replacement site hasn’t been easy, but they’ve settled on Diegueno Middle School as their best option. At a city zoning meeting in May, association Executive Director Stacy Riddell said the selection process took eight months and they’re committed to making this replacement site a success.
However, people who live immediately adjacent to the middle school have raised concerns, both about the relocation plans and the city’s permit review process. A group of six households, many of them from Island View Lane, filed an appeal in May after city staff approved the relocation plans. That appeal will be heard by the City Council at 6 p.m. Wednesday at City Hall, 505 S. Vulcan Ave.
In their appeal paperwork, the neighbors have argued that the relocation plans ought to require a full-scale environmental review, or at the very least, some major changes, including that:
- The school’s upper athletic fields not be used for vendor booths, vehicles or parking;
- The number of permitted vendors be limited to 135;
- The arrival of commercial vehicles and the use of generators not be permitted on site before 9 a.m.;
- Formal traffic and noise studies be produced.
“We hope to reach an amicable solution that works for everyone — the farmers market, the city, and the residents of this neighborhood,” neighbors John Bjorneby and Kerry Mahoney wrote. “However, if that is not possible, we are prepared to pursue every avenue available to us.”
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They aren’t the only ones raising concerns. A representative for St John the Evangelist Catholic Church, which is at the intersection of Balour Drive and Encinitas Boulevard, recently informed the city that it supports the residents’ appeal due to concerns about increased traffic, roadway safety and the possibility of farmers market shoppers using the church’s parking lot without permission. The church has four services on Sundays that could be directly impacted by the farmers’ market relocation plans, church facilities director Marcelo Rull wrote in a June 10 letter to the city.
“The morning traffic between Mass times is already quite busy and adding more cars on an already bottle-necked street will cause a great amount of frustration to all who use Balour,” Rull wrote.
Many market shoppers, plus vendors and officials with local business organizations, have flooded the city with emails in recent days, urging the council to deny the appeal and let the relocation proceed as planned, stressing the market’s social and financial benefits.
“Dozens of vendors rely on the market financially and thousands of residents enjoy this market weekly,” wrote Carlsbad resident Daniel Actor. “That a handful of grumpy neighbors could compromise this wonderful event we all look forward to each week is ridiculous. Please do not end the farmers market over this!”
In a report produced for Wednesday’s meeting, city staff wrote that the market relocation plans have been recently modified in an effort to ease neighbors’ concerns. Changes include:
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- Reducing the number of permitted vendors, from 195 to 135, and allowing a maximum of 12 food trucks. The 135-vendor figure could be adjusted six months after the market relocation, if the market’s backers obtain city permission, the report adds.
- Requiring a 200-foot buffer between the nearest neighbor and the vendor area on the school’s field and track region.
- Banning the use of generators in the school’s field and track area, and limiting where live music is allowed.
- Adding a traffic study requirement, but only if traffic complaints are filed six months after the market opens in its new proposed location.
- Barring the market from operating on major holidays, such as Easter Sunday, if the city development services requires this due to traffic concerns.
