RBBA and Webb Park Farmers Market May Split Amid Disputes

The Rancho Bernardo Business Association may pull its support for the Webb Park Certified Farmers Market amid "personal attacks," a dispute over rent and lower-than-expected revenue. Business leaders say the market was started to benefit the community and generate money for the RBBA, but it's falling short.

"It's working out as a community event, but it's done nothing but cost us money and [cause] aggravation," said Larry McIntyre, the head of the business association.

The market's managers, however, say the RBBA has done almost nothing to help support the market's growth, and is asking for more rent than the market can afford less than six months since it began.

"Nothing the RBBA has done has been effective," said Richard Knudson, who with Claire Winnick is co-manager of the Webb Park Certified Farmers Market. Knudson said about eight out of 10 market visitors come because of emailed newsletters and online news stories, based on an informal survey he did. The RBBA, on the other hand, has spent $6,000 on newspaper ads and flyers, which McIntrye contends have been effective.

The longstanding tension between the RBBA—the market's headline sponsor—and the managers recently came to a head due to a series of emails. McIntyre and Ron Bamberger, head of the Bernardo Town Center Property Owners Association that owns Webb Park, sent an email to the managers and RBBA board on Tuesday, saying "We are both feeling pressure from our respective boards to either get some return on our investment or cut ties with the market."

Knudson responded with a lengthy email, detailing the market's financial situation and accusing the RBBA of not giving enough support or time for the market to grow.

The market has not been charged any rent for use of the park , but a rent of $10 per vendor will be charged each Sunday starting in April, according to verbal agreements. Before Knudson and Winnick took over the re-vamped market in October, the same rental fee was charged to the prior vendors, part of the reason it failed, the new managers say. The new market has averaged 39 vendors since January, compared to an average of 22 vendors in the old market, which ran from May to September, according to Knudson's email. The new market has grossed $48,000 in the 11 weeks this year, about as much as the old market grossed in 21 weeks, according to the email.

McIntyre said 90 percent of Knudson's email is exaggerated or incorrect, though he did not cite specific figures.

Both sides acknowledge that they do not have any agreements in writing, though Knudson and Winnick say they tried to get a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in place but did not get a response.

The market typically has 40 to 50 vendors each week, which would make the monthly rent around $2,000 to be split between the RBBA and the property owners. Bamberger said the property owners have been generous by not charging rent for use of the private park to this point, giving the market a chance to grow, but now it's time to recoup some of the maintenance costs. The association budgets more than $100,000 each year for park maintenance, he said. The market runs for six hours each Sunday, with several hours before and after spent setting up and closing down.

"There's no greed factor here," Bamberger said, comparing the market's free use of the park to everyone in a neighborhood using a private pool and tennis courts that only some residents are paying for.

Knudson and Winnick agree that they should pay rent but say $10 is asking too much, considering all of the expenses the RBBA is not helping with such as licensing and health inspection fees. They also are spending $750 each month to rent storage space in Poway for market equipment and tables, and for trucks to transport the items to the park each week, the managers said. If the RBBA was helping with those expenses, there would be more money to contribute rent, they said.

Winnick and Knudson also do not yet get paid for running the market.

McIntyre said storage and truck fees are a cost of business that the managers should handle—not RBBA. For its part, the business association is leveraging its network and name-recognition to attract visitors to the market, and buying ads, he said.

The market only generates an average of $13.35 gross revenue per vendor, Knudson said. Some vendors pay less than the minimum market rent of $25 per week due to incentives to attract vendors; others occasionally pay less when they have not made much money for the day and the managers offer them flexibility, Winnick said.

The incentives were offered to retain vendors when the market was forced to in January. The change was .

That switch changed the dynamics of the market, making it essentially a brand-new market that Knudson and Winnick had to start from scratch, they said. Thus, they haven't really had a full six months to get the market running, they said.

Bamberger said the business side has been sensitive to the switch. Initially, rent was to be charged starting in January, but that date was moved to April because of the disruption to the market, he said.

"We stretched. ...We had agreed to be even more patient. We want to see it work," Bamberger said.

McIntyre said the market has become a "thorn" in his side, even though he loves it, because of "personal attacks" from Knudson, including accusations in the email that the RBBA isn't supporting the market.

"I spent a lot of time giving back and then I get these two people ... giving me grievance," he said. "All we wanted to do is have a nice thing for the community and it's gotten way out of hand."

Knudson and Winnick said they have spent thousands of dollars out of pocket to keep the market running. If the RBBA pulls support, they believe the market will continue operating, even if they have to move to a different location, they said.

McIntyre said the RBBA board will vote later this month on whether to continue supporting the market.