Farmers’ Market Proposed to Boost Moorpark : Business: The weekly event would start Sept. 11 at the Metrolink lot on High Street. Chamber’s proposal coincides with a downtown revitalization effort.

As part of a citywide effort to revitalize Moorpark’s sleepy downtown strip, the Chamber of Commerce this week proposed bringing a weekly farmers’ market to the city’s Metrolink parking lot on High Street.

The market, tentatively scheduled to debut Sept. 11, would be held Saturdays from 4 to 7 p.m. and would coincide with a weekly sidewalk sale put on by High Street merchants.

“We need the residents of Moorpark to be aware of what downtown has to offer,” said chamber President Francis Okyere. “I think that this will break the ice and get people down there.”

Mayor Paul Lawrason said he sees the proposed market as a boon for the city’s downtown.

“What could be better in our old downtown section than having something like that, that attracts people down there every week,” Lawrason said. “It’s perfect.”

Still, Lawrason said he is disappointed that chamber officials did not involve the council earlier in their plans for the market, which have been discussed for several years.

“It was discussed some time ago and went nowhere. I’m surprised now it emerges as a full-blown proposal of the chamber’s,” Lawrason said. “I would have been interested in being a part of it, maybe I could have helped.”

Okyere said with the downtown in dire need of an economic boost, the last thing he wanted to do was bog down the proposal in detailed discussions between the city and chamber.

“I didn’t want to tell them anything until I really knew that this was going to fly,” Okyere said. “I guess they feel like they were out of the loop, because we did most of the grunt work.”

Discussions have been ongoing with city staff, Okyere said, but did not reach top city administrators until Thursday when the chamber forwarded its proposal to City Hall.

Under the chamber’s plan, the market would be run by Cynthia Korman and include 15 to 20 certified growers selling items ranging from fresh fruits and vegetables to fish, coffee, plants, bread, pasta, eggs, honey, flowers and other items. Korman runs the Ojai Certified Farmers’ Market from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. each Sunday.

Joy Cummings, chairwoman of the Moorpark Old Town Merchants Assn., said she supports the idea as long as the temporary vendors do not cut into the sales of permanent businesses.

“I think anything that is going to generate any kind of traffic is going to help the businesses,” Cummings said. “It’ll be great. It’ll make it even more fun and enticing to come downtown.”

Okyere said the chamber had assuaged the concerns of some downtown merchants who were worried about direct competition with vendors, and would exclude vendors who cut into the profits of High Street shops.

“The overall impact is more positive than negative,” Okyere said.

Plans for the outdoor market come at a time when the city is trying to turn downtown Moorpark into a more charming destination consistent with its historic past.

Council members this week agreed to spend up to $20,000 to install benches, planters and trash receptacles along High Street and will discuss plans to purchase antique-looking street lamps next month.

“I think this fits well into many people’s vision of the eventually revitalized old-town area,” Councilman Scott Montgomery said of the proposed market. “I think it’ll be good for the city.”

And the farmers’ market may not be the only chance for Moorpark residents to shop outdoors this fall. The Moorpark College Foundation is finalizing plans to raise badly needed funds through a weekly open-air market to be held between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. each Sunday at the college.

Jim Niles, director of community services for the college, said it is estimated the school will be able to raise at least $50,000 annually by charging about 100 vendors to display their wares each week.

“We’ll have everything from people taking a space as an alternative to having a garage sale to professional vendors that go from open-air market to open-air market,” Niles said.

The college market is also tentatively scheduled to begin in September, Niles said.