ENCINITAS — An appeal filed by neighbors of Oak Crest Middle School has thrown the planned relocation of the Leucadia Farmers’ Market into uncertainty, raising the possibility of a weekslong shutdown that organizers say could cost vendors income, drive some businesses away and disrupt a community institution that has operated in Leucadia for two decades.
As construction nears at Paul Ecke Central Elementary School, the market’s home for the past 20 years, Leucadia 101 Mainstreet has been racing to secure a new location and avoid interruptions for vendors and customers.
Stacy Reddell, executive director of Leucadia 101, said organizers had “a very short window to find a site” that could accommodate the market’s needs and believed Oak Crest Middle School was a strong option, in part because of the “amazing amount of parking” available at the adjacent Encinitas Community and Senior Center.
The last day of school at Paul Ecke is scheduled for June 10, and until recently, the market planned to hold its final event there on June 7 before relocating the following week.
Under city procedures, the appeal now places the relocation approval before the City Council for review, with a hearing scheduled for the June 17 council meeting. Until the appeal is resolved, the market cannot move to Oak Crest. Unless organizers and neighbors reach an agreement before then, market officials said the weekly event will not reopen at its new location by the targeted June 14 date.
Even if the council upholds the approval on June 17, the earliest the market could begin operating at Oak Crest would be June 21, forcing at least a one-week interruption in operations.
Reddell said city staff must first prepare responses to the appeal before issuing a public notice that triggers a 10-day waiting period before the City Council can consider the matter. Based on that timeline, the earliest the market could resume operations would be June 28 — a delay she fears could permanently alter the market’s vendor lineup.
For some of the market’s roughly 130 vendors, even a brief interruption could have immediate financial consequences.
A May 28 appeal filed by neighboring residents, including veterinarians Dr. John Bjorneby and Dr. Kerry Mahoney, challenges permits approved earlier this month for the market’s relocation to Oak Crest. The appellants say they support the farmers’ market but oppose plans that would allow vendor booths, vehicles and parking on the school’s upper grass athletic field and running track.
The appeal asks the City Council to revoke the approval unless several conditions are met, including a prohibition on operations on the track and grass field. The letter describes that request as a “non-negotiable red line” and argues the market could instead operate on paved portions of the campus and nearby parking facilities.
In April, Leucadia 101 representatives met with neighboring residents and agreed to several concessions ahead of a May 12 zoning administrative hearing in hopes of avoiding a lengthy appeal, according to Reddell.
Faced with the prospect of missing multiple weeks of operation and running short on alternatives, Reddell said she has even considered asking Paul Ecke Central Elementary School to delay construction temporarily so the market could remain at its current site while the appeal process plays out.
Reddell said she feels “handcuffed” by a small group of active neighbors “holding all of us hostage” through a process intended to protect residents. An uninterrupted transition to Oak Crest now seems unlikely “unless a miracle happens.”
“I do believe the city is working hard on our behalf,” she said, emphasizing she does not fault city staff. “It’s the process that’s messed up.
“We’re in a bad place right now because of protocol.”
For some of the market’s roughly 130 vendors, even a brief interruption could have immediate financial consequences.
Morgan Zuchowski, who owns Caña Love with her husband, Hector, said the Leucadia Farmers’ Market is their favorite venue.
“We love the Leucadia Farmers’ Market,” she said. “The fun community has become like a family to us.”
The couple sells juices made from sugarcane grown on farms in Bonsall and Oceanside.
Zuchowski said it “would be horrible” if the market’s weekly schedule were interrupted because of the financial impact and loss of regular customer and vendor connections.
“It’s really special to be part of a community that cares about your success as an individual,” Zuchowski said.
McHale Gentile grew up attending the Leucadia Farmers’ Market and said he particularly enjoyed the avocado sushi and vegan cookie dough sold by vendors. As a high school student interested in entrepreneurship, he learned the business at Rafikiz Foodz before launching Just Bananas at age 16.
Gentile said the community, mentorship and business opportunities provided by the market have been “the thing that makes our business viable and possible.”
Now 20, Gentile has hired his mother, Steph, to help oversee the business while he studies mechanical engineering at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia.
Steph Gentile said the “magical” and “special market” has become a “ritual and tradition for people” while also serving as an “incubator” for small businesses like her son’s.
“People become friends waiting in our line,” she said, recalling one occasion when a customer paid for another person’s order after striking up a conversation. “Stuff like that happens all the time.”
Back home for summer break, McHale Gentile has been working on plans to expand Just Bananas. Steph Gentile said the uncertainty surrounding the market’s future has made planning difficult.
“Leucadia is what makes our business viable right now,” she said. “It does feel a little bit scary.”
Neighbors’ concerns
Bjorneby, one of the neighbors leading the appeal, said he took on that role after speaking with other residents concerned about the relocation.
“The conditions were more than I expected,” Bjorneby said, “but when I talked to neighbors, it wasn’t enough.”
Bjorneby said concerns about noise, traffic and other impacts stem largely from the size and scope of the proposed operation at Oak Crest. Despite helping lead the appeal effort, he said he generally supports farmers’ markets.
“I didn’t want to do this,” he said. “I don’t enjoy doing this.”
The appeal challenges the city’s environmental review of the project, raising concerns about traffic, noise, public notification and early-morning setup activities. However, the document repeatedly identifies protection of the school’s athletic field as the central issue and proposes a revised site plan that would keep all market operations on paved surfaces.
The appellants argue that weekly use by vendor vehicles could damage turf, compact soil, adversely affect irrigation systems and interfere with youth sports activities, according to documents obtained by The Coast News. They also contend the market can operate entirely on school parking lots, basketball courts and nearby parking facilities without using the grass field.
Plans discussed during the May 12 hearing called for between 130 and 195 vendor booths.
“(The Leucadia Farmers Market is) on a scale that matches the largest markets around the world,” Bjorneby said, citing the Dane County Farmers’ Market in Wisconsin and Seattle’s Pike Place Market.
The Dane County Farmers’ Market in Madison advertises itself as the nation’s largest producers-only farmers’ market, hosting between 150 and 170 vendors around the Wisconsin State Capitol.
Pike Place Market in Seattle includes more than 220 shops and restaurants, along with more than 180 craftspeople, 70 farmers and 60 permitted buskers. The mixed-use market district also contains more than 450 affordable housing units.
Bjorneby said both operate in “purpose-built, civic, commercial areas, not a residential school.”
Even after organizers reduced the proposed maximum vendor count from 195 to roughly 135, Bjorneby said the market would still be “huge.”
He also argued that the Leucadia Farmers’ Market consists primarily of food and craft vendors rather than local produce growers.
“It’s a commercial street fair, not a farmers’ market,” said Bjorneby, noting that, unlike many seasonal markets that operate during harvest periods, the Leucadia market runs year-round.
“If they want to have it three months a year, I’ll suffer that,” Bjorneby said.
The school’s grass playing fields were another major concern, prompting him to draft the appeal letter with the help of an engineer friend. Five other neighbors signed the document.
Bjorneby said he feels strongly about protecting the fields, in part because several members of his family played soccer there.
“That field’s going to be gone forever,” Bjorneby said. “If I can just have them off those fields … I’m going to be fine with that.”
Bjorneby said city staff, including Development Services Director Scott Drapkin, and Councilmember Joy Lyndes had been “very helpful to me trying to navigate the ins and outs” of a city process he previously knew little about.
Bjorneby said protecting the athletic field remains the primary objective of the appeal, which proposes a revised site plan that would keep market operations off the grass and track.
The City Council could uphold the permits, modify the approval with additional conditions, send the project back for further review or require additional environmental analysis.
The next City Council meeting is scheduled for June 10, though the agenda has not yet been posted.
Market response
Reddell said the natural grass surface was one of the qualities that made the Paul Ecke location appealing.
“One of the things that makes a farmers’ market nice is walking on grass,” she said.
As part of the concessions made to address neighborhood concerns, Reddell said the market would not operate within 200 feet of the school’s southern property line, closest to Bjorneby’s neighborhood.
The buffer would extend roughly to midfield, leaving about half of the turf area unused by the market.
Reddell also said no generators or amplified music would be permitted on the grass and that vendors would not use vehicles with backup warning beepers. Most activity and noise, she said, would be concentrated in the parking lot near the administration building and on the blacktop courts.
The submitted plans include 260 parking spaces.
Reddell said the market’s vendors comprise roughly 30% certified farmers, 60% specialty food and beverage vendors, and 10% craft vendors.
“They rely on our market for a large percentage of their income for the year,” she said, adding that a prolonged interruption could permanently reshape the market.
“Some of them won’t come back.”
