By Khalida Sarwari
What was deemed a win-win for all involved in the changed layout of the Downtown Campbell Farmers Market four months ago turned out not to be so favorable for the county fire department.
Earlier this month, Santa Clara County Fire Department chief Ken Kehmna addressed a letter to Campbell city manager Amy Brown stating that the newly modified layout poses a risk to public safety and that it would have to possibly revert to the original layout, with the booths facing toward the street and against retailers and restaurants, by the end of the year.
The “racetrack” arrangement, which went into effect July 15, has the booths facing toward the businesses, and while allowing for a better flow of foot traffic and exposure to merchants, obstructs access for fire apparatus in the event of an emergency, said Kehmna. When the booths were set against the curb along each side of Campbell Avenue, the center of the roadway was left open for emergency vehicle access.
“We’ve determined that allowing obstructions to emergency fire apparatus access down the center of the street in any location in the downtown area is not in the best interest of public fire and life safety,” Kehmna stated in the Nov 15 letter. “Therefore, this is not a practice we can continue to approve.”
Nearly a dozen speakers, many of them downtown merchants, turned up at the Nov. 20 city council meeting to address the council about the matter, although the issue before the council that evening was the renewal of a contract with the Urban Village Farmers Market Association, the operator of the downtown farmers market.
The council unanimously approved the extension of the contract for an additional two years, but prior to the council’s vote, speakers such as Sonya Paz, president of the Downtown Campbell Business Association and owner of a downtown art gallery, expressed dismay about the turn of events. Speaking on behalf of downtown merchants, she requested that the council delay taking action on the contract until a solution satisfactory to all parties involved could be reached.
“We have a voice and we want to be heard,” said Paz, adding that she prefers an amendment to the contract that addresses the configuration of the booths. “Having an opportunity to review the contract is important to us.”
Paz was backed by several others, including Campbell Chamber of Commerce executive director Neil Collins and Simply Smashing owner Deb Rohzen.
“I can guarantee most of our businesses will be hurt if our storefronts are blocked again,” Rohzen said.
Some speakers expressed confusion about whether the county’s order to change the layout would mean the end of the farmers market.
“We don’t want to lose the farmers market,” said one resident. “It’s a good market and I suggest either way is good with us.”
Councilman Rich Waterman inquired about how going forward the Boogie on the Bayou and Oktoberfest festivals would be impacted. Kehmna said that the fire department has not had issues with the racetrack arrangement for the festivals because they occur only a few days out of the year, whereas the market takes place for seven hours every Sunday.
“It has to be a sustainable approach,” Kehmna told the council.
The next step is for all the stakeholders–the merchants, Urban Village and its vendors, the city and the county–to sit down and figure out yet another win-win layout.
Urban Village executive director Ron Pardini said that market would stand with the city and county in their decision, but suggested a plan C that involves removing backdrops and creating pathways.
“We’re going to try to design a layout that works for everyone,” said Pardini. “It’s going to be a great farmers market as it has been for 14 years.”
Still, Paz feels that of all the stakeholders involved, the downtown merchants were given last priority by the city. Prior to Kehmna’s letter, Paz said she and other business owners met three times with Kehmna and city officials to discuss the impact of the modified layout on public safety.
“We were specifically told that the municipalities would go away, review what we talked about, review the layout and come back and have a meeting so we would be on the same page and that clearly did not happen,” Paz said. “The DCBA is not taken seriously by the city at all and it’s pretty disenchanting.”
The sentiment is shared by other members of the Campbell Chamber of Commerce and the DCBA, but the city manager disagrees, stating that ultimately, public safety is the city’s highest priority.
“The only reason we tried this different layout in the first place was that it would increase their visibility,” said Brown. “There was no other reason to change the layout of an incredibly successful farmers market other than that the DCBA wanted to give it a try. I feel like we’ve got a record of being very responsive to their concerns.”
Whatever changes take place will have to be made by the beginning of the new year. Until then, Kehmna said he would be committing extra fire personnel to ensure that the market is safe during the holidays.
Farmers market layout raises concerns for county fire dept., but local merchants like it
