Objections Fail to Stop Laguna Niguel Farmers Market
With a final OK from the City Council, a farmers market is expected to start selling fresh produce in the city within three weeks.
The approval came over the objections of the owner of Farm to Market, a nearby natural food store. Farm to Market appealed a recent decision from the Planning Commission to allow the outdoor farmers market to operate at the Plaza de la Paz shopping center each Sunday.
“I don’t see any major, underline major, negative impacts” with the farmers market, said Councilman Thomas W. Wilson.
The council also went along with a Planning Commission recommendation to review the market operation after a six-month period.
The Planning Commission had split 3 to 2 on the project, with those against saying they didn’t like the limited amount of space set aside for the market and its close proximity to homes across the street.
Councilman Eddie Rose abstained on the issue, saying he believed the outdoor market competed unfairly with local supermarkets because they can display produce outdoors, a privilege denied grocery stores by the state health code.
But with the market open only on Sundays between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m., Councilwoman Janet Godfrey said the competition won’t damage Farm to Market sales.
“It’s just going to make another set of choices” for residents, Godfrey said.
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