San Marcos’ ‘Stop the Swap’ Effort Kills Plan for 12-Acre Outdoor Market

Faced with boisterous opposition from business owners, plans for a swap meet were abruptly withdrawn at a San Marcos City Council meeting Tuesday.

It was unclear whether the proposal for a weekend swap meet might sometime be revived. “I think that’s the end of it. . . . They’ll go someplace else,” said Chester Upham, who owns the land where the swap meet was to be held.

Charles Bretto, a spokesman for the Kobey Corp., which operates an outdoor market at the San Diego Sports Arena and wanted to lease 12 acres at the corner of Las Posas Road and Grand Avenue, said the company was “committed to coming to North County, but (we) wanted to be on good terms.” He did not elaborate.

Another spokesman, Jim Simmons, said the company had “a pretty good inkling” that the proposal would be voted down.

Dozens of protesters crowded council chambers to oppose the swap meet, most of them waving brightly colored “stop the swap” placards.

Opponents, including the local Chamber of Commerce and surrounding business owners, had been arguing for two months that the proposed swap meet and beer garden would invite crime, litter and traffic.

“Such an enterprise detracts from the image of our community and . . . represents unfair competition to our local retail outlets,” chamber President Orla Pedersen wrote in a letter to Mayor Lee Thibadeau.

To allay some of the fears, Kobey officials had promised to hide the 900-car parking lot with landscaping and to clean litter from all surrounding streets at the end of each day.

Reserve sheriff’s deputies were to be hired to check for stolen merchandise, and several security guards were to be stationed on the grounds.

In April, the Planning Commission endorsed the proposal on a 4-3 vote.

That decision was appealed to the City Council by Clarence Ochs. Ochs, who owns a petroleum wholesale business on nearby Via Vera Cruz, said “the concept of an upscale swap meet is an oxymoron” and threatened to move his company--and the $54,000 a year it adds to city sales tax coffers--to Vista.

City staff members recommended approval of the swap meet, saying it would bring the city $1.5 million in sales tax income during the 10 years it would be allowed to operate.

The staff also contended that surrounding roads are more than adequate to handle swap meet traffic.

But the possible effect of an open-air market on San Marcos crime was unclear. Police in Escondido, Oceanside and San Diego said they can’t determine how much crime is caused by swap meets in those cities because the sites are used for other purposes, such as drive-in movies, according to a San Marcos staff report.

Spring Valley’s market site does have a high crime rate, even though the area around it is largely uninhabited, but the Sheriff’s Department isn’t sure how much blame rests with the swap meet, the report said.

San Marcos officials had said steps would be taken to prevent stolen goods from being channeled through the swap meet. The market was to be ringed by an 8-foot chain-link fence, and all vendors would have had to submit inventory lists the day before items went on sale.

But opponents claimed a swap meet clashed with the city’s attempt to portray itself as a hub of cultural, educational and industrial activity in North County.

Although Simmons hinted that Kobey would lobby local businesses to change their minds, those at Tuesday’s meeting said they would oppose the idea no matter what.

“There is a stigma to swap meets” said Mike Barksdale, former Chamber of Commerce president. “It’s junk.”

If Kobey tries to revive the plan, he said, opposition will resume in force.