Red Barn flea market's future uncertain
Flea market's future uncertain
By JIM JOHNSON

Updated: 09/27/2009 01:26:37 AM PDT


Christian Aranda remembers when he was just 6 or 7, commuting with his father from Los Angeles to the Red Barn flea market.
He and his brothers would sleep Saturday nights on the market grounds tucked into the hillside off Highway 101 near Aromas. They would awaken early Sunday to set up for the morning market.

Three decades later, Aranda lives in Salinas and runs his own booth in the jam-packed tent village that bustles with activity every Sunday. Aranda's father, now the longest-selling vendor in the market's 30-year history, still has his own booth nearby.

They are just two of the hundreds of vendors who have been coming to the Red Barn for decades to hawk everything from produce, meat and seafood to clothes, furniture, toys and electronics.

And they are the ones who are feeling the pinch as Red Barn faces myriad problems and challenges.

After hearing complaints about perpetual Sunday traffic congestion, dangerous driving and frequent crashes in the area, county planning officials recently concluded the Red Barn had expanded the size of the market well past its legal limits.

As a result, the county is requiring a new use permit, which will mean visits and inspections by various agencies, including environmental health and the Aromas fire district. Also waiting in the wings is a potentially expensive environmental study that will assess the market's traffic impact.

Meanwhile, for the last couple of months the California Highway Patrol has saturated the Red Barn area with a heavy dose of enforcement that has netted several drivers who didn't have licenses or whose registration had expired. Many of them had their cars towed.
Today a new code enforcement task force β€” including representatives of agencies ranging from the county building department to the Sheriff's Office to fire departments β€” is planning to inspect the Red Barn, according to owner Fran Ellingwood. More than two dozen officials are supposed to join the inspection, according to a notice she received on Thursday. Another inspection during off-hours is also planned.

That is not good news for the 700 licensed vendors who think many of their customers are leery of law enforcement and government officials.

"Business is real slow," Aranda said. "It's been really slow since they started pulling people over. And then the radio said (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) was at the flea market. Some of the customers ... are illegal, and they're afraid to come out any more.

"If it keeps going this way, we won't be able to pay our bills. We all operate on credit out here."

Gloria Ramos, a vendor who commutes from Squaw Valley to the market, said many of the market's customers are farmworkers who "don't like going into stores like Wal-Mart" and prefer the more informal atmosphere of the Red Barn.

She said the county's squeeze on the operation has helped push attendance "way down" this year, and it's already down because of the economy. She said the market was packed all last year.

While Ellingwood said the market β€” which is open from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sundays β€” still attracts plenty of customers, she acknowledged that the vendors are concerned about the conflict with the county and that this might be a veiled attempt to push them out. They are also conscious of a new Sunday flea market, with a certified farmers market, at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds in Watsonville.

Hundreds of vendors and Red Barn market supporters showed up at county Planning Commission meetings on the issue over the summer, pleading with county officials not to shut the market down.

In response, planning commissioners vowed not to close the market but also said a new use permit would be needed.

Ellingwood and her attorney, Myron Etienne, said she is trying to work with the county on its issues. She pointed out that she's already agreed to several operational changes, including the development of a traffic improvement plan, the addition of previously required landscaping and the removal of trucks the county said were illegally parked on the site. They've also agreed to allow the code enforcement task force members on the Red Barn site for what they called unprecedented scrutiny.

And while Ellingwood has complied with the county on those issues, she still insists the Red Barn had tacit approval from the county to expand the sales area when it approved the relocation of a parking area in 1979.

Ellingwood and Etienne have indicated they intend to apply for the new use permit, according to county Planning Director Mike Novo, but they also recently appealed the order for it to the Board of Supervisors.

The bottom line, they argued in the appeal, is that shutting the market down or even closing a portion of it will "destroy the efforts of 30 years to build a business" that provides a crucial source of income for more than 700 licensed vendors and 24 full-time and part-time Red Barn employees. The market brings in an estimated $5million per year in sales revenue, according to Ellingwood.

"What I'm concerned about is the vendors," Ellingwood said. "A lot of them depend on this place for their living."

In some ways, the Red Barn could be caught in a shift in the county's approach to code enforcement. Previously, county officials admitted they held off on enforcement of certain widespread issues such as substandard housing partly because they were short on staffing and resources.

But earlier this year, the supervisors approved a new code enforcement ordinance aimed at strengthening the process, though staffing is still an issue.

Tim McCormick, county building department director and head of the code enforcement task force, said most county and city officials are realizing that regular monitoring and diligent code enforcement is needed. But he said the county must consider maintaining the proper balance between competing interests.

With the Red Barn, he said, that balance swings between the benefit of the market for vendors and their customers in a slumping economy and the neighbors and everyone who uses the highway.

"There's always politics to be considered in every code enforcement action," McCormick said. "At the end of the day, our elected representatives get paid to find that balance."


Jim Johnson can be reached at jjohnson@montereyherald.com



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