After meeting with the various stakeholders, the Santa Clara County Fire Department has decided that the current layout of the Downtown Campbell Farmers Market will have to revert to its previous setup by Dec. 1.
"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 the public fire and life safety," said Fire Chief Kenneth Kehmna in a letter addressed to Campbell City Manager Amy Brown. "Therefore, this is not a practice that we can continue to approve."
According to the letter, along with the farmers' market, all other downtown events will have to have their setup change to this along-the-sidewalk setup, "keeping the center of the roadway free of obstructions to emergency fire apparatus."
The downtown Campbell businesses first began their campaign to change the layout of the farmers' market in March, stating that it was a matter of equal visibility. The argument was that by having their backs to the businesses downtown, farmers' market visitors could not see the local businesses, therefore did not shop with them on Sundays.
The Campbell City Council formed a subcommittee, which included councilmen Rich Waterman and Jason Baker, to discuss with the Downtown Campbell Business Association next steps.
It was agreed that the farmers' market would temporarily change its layout to test the new setup and the market debuted its new look in July. A survey was passed out at the market for the first few weeks, to gauge visitors and the majority had positive feedback.
Here are a few of our previous stories leading up to this:
- Campbell Farmers' Market: 14 Years Without a Permit
- POLL: What Did You Think About the New Farmers' Market Layout?
- Campbell Leadership Group to Recognize New Farmers' Market Layout
- Downtown Campbell Farmers' Market Debuts New Look
To read all of our coverage on the farmers' market and its layout changes, click here.
Campbell Patch was forwarded a copy of the letter late Thursday Night. We will continue to follow this story as it unfolds.
I also don't understaand why festival were able to have the racetrack format for so many years and all of a sudden the fire department decide to crack down on Farmers' market because of the recent change in July. Why now?
As a DTC merchant for nearly twelve years, I participate in all community events on our avenue, and am all for the happiness of our local residents/customers. In fact, while closing the street every Sunday hurts my business, in general, I have continued to welcome the farmers market, just as long as they would allow equal exposure to the merchants, as to the market vendors. That said, I am fed up with the downtown merchants ending up at the bottom of the totem pole when these situations arise. I realize I am putting my neck out to say this, but, if I had to make an all-or-nothing choice, I would choose for the farmers market to move elsewhere, rather than block our businesses again. At the end of the day, Downtown Campbell merchants need to count, at the very least, equally as much as the residents, farmers market goers, etc. We certainly pay more for rent, by far, than the farmers market. to be continued...
In the five years that I have had farmers market booths blocking the front of my store, I lost business on Sundays, hands down. In the few months that we have enjoyed the new layout, my Sunday business has been up +/- 30%, and my walk-in traffic has been up 50+%. I believe this decision is a blow to most downtown retailers, and it is a crushing blow to my business. I have to believe that there are other options in terms of reconfiguring the market, that don't entail shutting business off to the open merchants. Again. There are parking lots, side streets, loop streets - I am sure a compromise can be worked out. If the only choice to to have farmers market booths backed up to the curb, blocking my store again, I may well be forced to close my business on Sundays because, with the previous layout, I often paid more to run the store than was returned by customer sales during farmers market. Yours truly unhappy, Deb
It kind of just sounds like abuse of power to me.
So many people are brought in by FM, but at what cost to the everyday businesses of DTC? If you can't even see the shops and restaurants of DTC, how do you know they are there? Our downtown businesses are hurt by blocking them off, and that translates to not only lost income, but lost future business, word of mouth advertisement, and so much more. Also, as a Mom, I hate the old layout for the fact that it is nearly impossible to navigate with children. Strollers, wagons, or even just walking with little ones is so difficult when everyone is funneled down the middle and it is so crowded. The new layout allows for the sidewalks to be used for shopping both the FM and the shops of DTC. Much better!