COSTA MESA : Swap Meet Lease Plan Gaining Favor

A new document outlining the details of a lease agreement for the Orange County Marketplace swap meet seems to have calmed some fears among merchants that the state would eventually eliminate the swap meet in favor of more lucrative ventures.

A draft of the new document, called a Request for Bid Proposals, was discussed Tuesday at a meeting of the fair board’s buildings and grounds committee. But the document has a way to go before it meets most of their concerns, vendors said.

“I have to see if any input is taken seriously,” said Serge Kohan, president of the Orange County Merchants Assn., which claims 600 members.

“They appear to have a different attitude,” said vendor Dean Brown, referring to the fair board members. “This is the first time in 13 years that I’ve been a seller that they’ve said, ‘Get your people at the next meeting so we can hear what they say.’ ”

The current lease operator is Tel-Phil Enterprises. Its lease is up in April.

Many of Tuesday’s participants say they are happy with the current discussions on the operation of the swap meet.

“They’ve eliminated a lot of the control factors, such as being able to hire and fire employees of the operator,” said attorney Thomas R. Malcolm, who represents Tel-Phil, which has held the lease for 22 years.

Tel-Phil has filed a lawsuit seeking $2.5 million for restroom and food facilities that it has built on the lot. The lawsuit also contests other terms of the bid document. Malcolm said he still objects to wording in the document that he says makes it appear that the state will be leasing the operation and not just the parking lot and facilities.

“The district does not have the prerogative to lease the operation,” Malcolm said. “They’re simply leasing the land.”

As certain disagreements are being discussed, other “illuminating” ideas are being presented by the merchants, Malcolm said. At least one of them, a request that there be a grievance committee formed to voice problems among merchants, management and the lease operators, deserves looking into, he said.

“That’s something we really hadn’t considered in the past,” Malcolm said.