The City Council heard from Main Street merchants on both sides of the proposal to close the 200 block of Main Street for a “farmers market” on Thursdays, starting June 21.
Monday, June 4, is the last day of the public comment period on the special event permit application proposing the market.
The 200 block would be closed to traffic from 5 to 8 p.m., according to a legal notice published in last week’s Sun. The applicants for the special event permit to authorize the Thursday market are the city of Seal Beach and Mary Ann Senske, who has run farmers markets in such cities as Irvine and Huntington Beach. Special event permits are approved by the Community Development Department director, not the council, but citizens raised their concerns during the public comment segment of the meeting. Main Street businessman Woody Woodruff complained that Main Street businesses weren’t notified. “I learned about the farmers market from Bob Griffith,” he said. He also said the proposed market was not a farmers market. “It’s more like a swap meet,” he said. Other opponents have raised the same issue.
He said the city had tried a farmers market before and it hadn’t worked. He also said the city intends to expand the market to three blocks.
Brooke Reid, a 100 block Main Street merchant and the only merchant on the Seal Beach Chamber of Commerce board, supported the proposed market. She said she was invited to a meeting of city staff to “hash out” the idea of bringing a farmers market to Seal Beach. According to Reid, 35 Main Street merchants support the proposal.
Reid said there were questions that hadn’t been addressed such as how to determine if the market doesn’t work.
In response to Main Street nursery owner Brita Lemmon’s concern that there was no explicit end date for the proposed market, District One Councilwoman Ellery Deaton said that it was her understanding that the farmer’s market permit was for 90 days.
Some online critics of the market say the city has already signed a contract. In an email to the Sun, Assistant City Manager Patrick Gallegos said, “The special event permit application for a 90-day pilot period is in the review process and currently in the 10-day comment period. Therefore no permit or contract has been issued for a farmer’s market on Main Street.” The 10-day period began Thursday, May 24.
Farmers Market
The idea sounds good but must be done the rite way. The Farmers Market in Cerritos on Bloomfield and Artiesa is a true Farmers Market. They sell fruits and vegetables from local growers and food from local businesses. Most of the vegetables you can only get there and not in stores. It operates weekly on Saturday mornings from 9-1. Seal Beach residents and members of the planning committe should check it out and see if it what they want.