OJAI : Department Backs Produce Market

The Ojai Planning Department has recommended permitting an open-air produce market to operate every Sunday in downtown Ojai.

According to the proposal by Cynthia Korman, local commercial farmers would sell produce from 20-by-18-foot stalls at the market at 236 W. Ojai Ave.

The Planning Commission is scheduled to vote on the market at a public hearing Wednesday at Ojai City Hall.

According to assistant planner Marilyn Miller, Korman would operate the market from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sundays, allowing vendors to sell flowers, fruits, vegetables and other food items in a farmers’ market atmosphere on a paved lot between The Antique Collection and Ojai Frostie.

In a report to the commission, Miller recommended that vendors be limited to selling food and produce-related items to avoid creating a “flea market atmosphere.”

Korman proposes to provide 25 off-street parking spaces. If the project had to meet requirements for an enclosed retail business--one parking space for each 300 square feet of building floor space--Korman would need to provide 70 spaces, according to Miller.

Korman previously applied to create a full-time vegetable market and a small building at the site. That proposal was amended when Korman, who is renting the property, learned the land had passed to a new owner who may have conflicting development plans, Miller said.