The Red Barn flea market will get a chance to remain open, but
it will have to make changes. After a four-hour hearing late
Wednesday in front of an over-capacity crowd and impassioned pleas
for and against the popular Sunday market, the county Planning
Commission voted unanimously to find it in violation of its
30-year-old use permit.
By Jim Johnson, McClatchy News Service
The Red Barn flea market will get a chance to remain open, but it will have to make changes.
After a four-hour hearing late Wednesday in front of an over-capacity crowd and impassioned pleas for and against the popular Sunday market, the county Planning Commission voted unanimously to find it in violation of its 30-year-old use permit.
But the commission decided to allow the Aromas flea market and its hundreds of vendors to continue operating as usual while county staff and Red Barn representatives work out details of a new use permit.
Planning commissioners agreed to continue the matter until Sept. 9, when staff will provide specific findings about the nature of the violations, proposed modifications for a new use permit including any expansion beyond the original limits, and a timeline for submission of an application for the use permit.
The commission clarified that allowing current uses to proceed will not prohibit other code enforcement action outside the planning department.
Red Barn attorney Myron Etienne said he wasn’t happy with the commission’s findings, and said he didn’t know what his clients would decide to do next. Etienne had argued that the Red Barn and its flea market never violated their use permit, and previously suggested that another finding would be appealed to the Board of Supervisors.
Scores of vendors and supporters pleaded with the commission not to shut down or shrink the Red Barn flea market, pointing out its value to the
economy.
Former Sheriff Gordon Sonne, a Prunedale-area resident, said he was pleased with the decision and hoped it would force the Red Barn to acknowledge and deal with the growing impact of its business.
A number of area residents blasted the flea market for backing up traffic on Highway 101 on Sundays and creating dangerous conditions on the road, arguing that the business should be held to account for its code violations despite its popularity.
Planning staff earlier alleged that the flea market had expanded beyond the limits of its use permit, approved in the late 1970s. Red Barn representatives said the business always intended to expand and had operated the same way for 30 years.
