LAGUNA BEACH : City Backs Farmers Market Plan

The City Council has endorsed plans to open a farmers market in the Laguna Beach Unified School District parking lot, amid objections from residents who complained that the market would worsen neighborhood noise and congestion.

Promoters of the market still must win approval from school board members next Tuesday.

District Supt. Paul M. Possemato said Thursday that he will advise the board to allow the Orange County Farm Bureau to use the lot at 550 Blumont St. for six months.

The council’s 3-2 vote Tuesday was a victory for residents who have struggled for years to find a location for an open-air market.

“What was clear in the discussion, and what everyone understands, is this is a way for us to get started and let the market define itself,” Ron Hegge, chairman of the ad hoc Friends of the Farmers Market Committee, said Thursday. Eventually, Hegge said, he expects the market to be relocated in the downtown area.

The city’s Planning Commission granted a temporary use permit for the market in March, but the decision was appealed to the council by Alicia and John Burnham, who complained that the market would upset the tranquillity of their neighborhood.

The council majority sided with the commission after most speakers at Tuesday night’s meeting spoke in favor of the project. Mayor Kathleen Blackburn and Councilman Wayne J. Baglin cast the dissenting votes.

If the school board endorses the plan, the market will open June 3 with hours of 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The city permit expires Nov. 18.