OCC swap meet vendors plead to City Council

Lolita Harper

COSTA MESA -- More than 200 vendors from the Orange Coast College swap

meet implored the City Council on Monday night to “do something” to keep

the shopping venue from being cut in half.

“These are people who get up early and work really hard to try and

make a living for their families,” said vendor Mike Hussein of Fountain

Valley.

The pleas came during the public comments portion of the meeting, but

council members were unable to take any action on the issue because it

was not on the agenda. The council members listened and took notes, but

did not discuss the issue.

Speaker after speaker shared tales of the wonderful bargains that can

be found at the campus swap meet and the melting pot of vendors who

derive their income from the venue. One at a time, they detailed the

hardships that would result from the swap meet being limited to only one

weekend day and 275 vendors.

Last month, city officials notified the college that the current

campus swap meet was violating the school’s 1984 agreement with the city.

A study -- prompted by Councilwoman Libby Cowan in November because of an

apparent increase in traffic along Fairview Road -- found that the swap

meet operates with an excess of about 200 vendors and an additional day

not authorized by the city.

City and college officials met to discuss the study, and the school

readily agreed to decrease the size to comply with the existing permit,

starting the weekend of May 4. An announcement was sent to vendors

explaining the cuts.

William Pezzulo, a Costa Mesa resident and swap meet vendor, said

Monday he didn’t understand why such drastic action had to be taken so

quickly. It took the city 18 years to realize the college was violating

its permit, he said. Couldn’t it take a little more time to wait for a

resolution, he asked.

City officials say Pezzulo’s criticism is misdirected.

City Manager Allan Roeder pointed out Tuesday that college officials

willingly agreed to cut the swap meet so it would comply with the city

permit.

“That’s between the vendors and the college, not the vendors and the

city,” Roeder said.

College officials were unavailable for comment.

Roeder said the swap meet issue can come before the city in one of two

ways: either the college can reapply for another conditional-use permit

-- which would include both weekend days -- or the city could put the

issue before the Planning Commission.

Both options take time and would not produce results before May 4,

Roeder said.

“The best thing [the vendors] can do is try to persuade the college to

pursue a new use permit in a timely fashion,” Roeder said.

Mayor Linda Dixon agreed with the Roeder.

She further noted that the council could not ignore city rules and

procedures. The college does not have a permit to operate both weekend

days, and therefore the city cannot allow that activity, she said.

“[Permits] apply to everyone,” Dixon said. “You can’t pick and choose

who you want the rules to apply to.”

* Lolita Harper covers Costa Mesa. She may be reached at (949)

574-4275 or by e-mail at o7 lolita.harper@latimes.comf7 .

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SWAP PLANS

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