Public hearing brings flea market one step closer

WADESBORO — On Tuesday, April 16, the Anson County Board of Commissioners began their regularly scheduled meeting with a public hearing to discuss imposing a potential moratorium against flea markets moving into Anson County.

In the beginning

Rumors began to swirl in February when the news of a proposed flea market moving into the tranquil communities of Burnsville and Peachland was first announced by the flea market owners, via a Facebook page setup to advertise for the new business.

As more information came to light, Anson County residents learned vendors from the former Sweet Union Flea Market, a large and widely-known flea market in Monroe, were moving into the area, opening the Barnyard-Peachland Flea Market on the grounds of a dilapidated former poultry farm on Faulkner Rd.

Much concern was caused by this news in the community owing to the reputation the Sweet Union Flea Market had for being a business of ill repute, garnered by the market’s gradual decline in both products and safety.

Sweet Union Flea Market abruptly closed in December, leaving its family of weekly business vendors without a place to showcase their wares.

Rumor slowly bubbled into resentment within the community, often igniting feelings of betrayal between residents and their elected officials.

Looming large over flea market discussions is the resurrected specter of poorly attended public hearings previously held on zoning, with county officials claiming its controversial consequences are now coming home to roost.

In recent weeks, residents from the Burnsville and Peachland communities have appeared before the Board of Commissioners to express concerns they have over the business’ weekly projected occupancy of 400 cars, potentially 600 people, coming in and out of narrow, dead end Faulkner Rd.

Residents have consistently expressed concern these traffic woes will spill onto NC Highway 742, affecting traffic from Hopewell Methodist Church on Sundays, hindering EMS’ ability to reach the facility or travel through the congested area, increasing crime, and potentially lowering property market values. Citizen concern has not been limited to commissioner meetings, as many commissioners report being harangued when sighted outside of board meetings.

All of this has culminated in an attempt by commissioners to impose a six- month moratorium against flea markets moving into Anson County.

In a recent board meeting, where the public hearing for the moratorium was announced, County Attorney Scott Forbes, was prompted to predict, “In the end, even with a moratorium, I do not see you ending the flea market coming to this area. Even if you have a public hearing and you implement it, I do not see that being the end of this. I do not think that it is going to cause the flea market not to come here.”

The public hearing

“The purpose of this public hearing is to consider whether or not to implement a moratorium on flea markets in Anson County. This public hearing is to gather evidence and information for the board to make that decision,” introduced Chairman Jamie Caudle, before turning proceedings over to the public for statements on the impending flea market.

Art Taylor, a citizen who has regularly spoken out against the flea market, opened public comments by reading from another’s previously prepared research.

“As of this morning the following concerns still remain from the Barnyard Flea Market, from a permitting aspect no electrical or plumbing related permits have been requested by the flea market.”

Taylor went on to add as a personal note, “I’m curious about structural inspection, because we did notice in the paper that a lot of new construction was done on the houses.”

Reminding commissioners’ of an ongoing permit concern shared by Taylor and many of his neighbors, he continued, “The driveway connection was approved after the fact with no approval request up front. The flea market was advised to provide a report noting trip generation, and data to plan that would allow the DOT to evaluate traffic patterns on a narrow dead end road. It has not been provided as of this morning.”

According to Taylor, the flea market Facebook page boasts of projected space availability for up to 600 vendors, which does not include customers.

“This would result in a massive amount of required parking, this fact alone, in my opinion, is absolutely overwhelming for Faulkner Rd., a dead end road.”

Speaking on behalf of native citizens in the community, Alana Hyatt addressed commissioners,’ sharing the emotional impact the proposed flea market has caused her family.

Hyatt began by declaring her love of a good flea market and her fear that a good flea market may not be what is moving in on Faulkner Rd.

She explained that, as avid flea market frequenters, Hyatt and her husband had previously shopped at the Sweet Union Flea Market, recalling fond memories of weekends spent perusing vendors’ wares for secret treasures. Hyatt remembers experiencing the good times turning into fears for personal safety and the secret treasures turned into cheap, imitation products.

“The last trip we made there [Sweet Union Flea Market] was downright uncomfortable. My husband decided it was no longer a safe environment for us to return to.”

Hyatts’ family is confident they made a wise decision as, “We have heard countless tales of criminal activities that took place at Sweet Union after that. Now we are being assured that many of those vendors, who are more or less evicted from Sweet Union, will be setting up shop several hundred feet from my family’s land.”

She wonders, as have many of her neighbors, “Why would a business that would greatly benefit from passer by traffic, choose a location on a dead end road, literally in the middle of nowhere, where passer by traffic is virtually non- existent? From a business standpoint that seems absurd, but from a personal and community standpoint, that seems downright suspicious.”

Attempting to hold back the anguish flooding into her words, Hyatt added, “My maternal grandparents and great-grandparents established two homes on our family land, and provided my parents with enough land to have a home and raise a family.”

Hyatt shared that her dad, worked hard as his father before him had, to afford to add to their family’s acreage. Sadly, Hyatt’s father passed away from cancer before the dream he had of his future generations settling into homes of their own on family land could be realized.

“My sister and her husband, determined to honor his wishes, were preparing to build a house on Faulkner Rd. They did their due diligence, spent a small fortune on a soil scientist, because, of course, nothing is going to perk in Anson County. Despite the odds stacked against young families that have a desire to build in our area they were getting closer and closer to groundbreaking. They felt that a quiet dead end road would be the perfect place to raise their small daughter, and hopefully, their future children. This was their American Dream.”

Invoking the night’s first note of contention, Hyatt concluded, “I thought commissioners’ and other county officials, who were voted into office by citizens of their district, would feel an obligation to support and at the very least, sympathize with, the very people who voted them into office. I am so disappointed in the way that our community members and their concerns have been received.”

Hyatt shared that she, and others, felt the flea market might be payback from elected officials, sardonically stating, “Simply because zoning laws were not voted into effect prior to this. Well, this is the way to show us, usher the flea market into our community because there is no better way to thumb your nose at the ones who did not vote for zoning. I applaud your efforts to show your support for the county residents who voted you into those seats you are sitting in.”

Visiting the construction site of the new flea market with her husband, Joan Shay, another outspoken critic of the flea market, stopped to pray with the new owner, Jose Garcia.

Through their conversation with him, the couple learned that Garcia is affiliated with three flea markets in the state of Florida.

“We have been to those three flea markets,” recalls Shay with a shudder. “We had to leave,” she declared.

“Due to the gangs,” continued Shay. “We saw gangs, drug deals, and I don’t know what else because we could not stay, it was not safe,” she reiterated.

“If one of these owners is affiliated with those groups, I am fully against having that kind of business near my house or anyone else in the rural area and I am fully for the moratorium,” closed Shay.

Rounding out the night of frequent speakers against the flea market, Linda Vann shared, “The past few months of coming to commissioner meetings has been an enlightening learning experience. At the first meeting we attended, there was talk about a moratorium being set forth on this issue. It was even released in the paper.”

Vann went on to remind commissioners that citizens were initially given a date in April for a public hearing on zoning, which has now been pushed back to May.

“At the next meeting we were informed of no moratorium, not even a chance. I found out no traffic study will happen. I feel as a resident of this community and Anson County, that we were told what some thought we wanted to hear to give a little more time to allow this to take place.”

Vann went on to acknowledge a grievance shared by many in the community; she and others were not notified until the meeting, scheduled for 3 p.m. on Monday, March 25, to discuss the moratorium feasibility, was already underway.

“I find it odd that we didn’t know about the last meeting until about 3:30 in the afternoon, but the flea market was notified of the meeting before the community was.”

Vann added, “At the last meeting that I watched online,” she pointedly recalled, “It was hard to tell who was representing whom in that meeting. It was hard to tell whether our community was being represented, or just the flea market was being represented.”

The Response

Concluding public statements on the matter, Tona Diaz, stepped up to the podium next. He is the son of owner, Jose Diaz, and has become the reluctant face of the flea market through his role as media liaison. Diaz was unprepared and surprised to find himself called upon to fill such a role when he and his father first considered the land on Faulkner Rd.

“I generally think from all the business owners, the partners that we have in the flea market, we do not mean any harm. I think we have reiterated it, reiterated it so many times, we mean no harm to anybody in the community.”

Diaz knows the flea market coming to the area is bringing changes to the community and is not without empathy for residents living in the Faulkner Rd. neighborhood.

“We do sympathize with them to some extreme, but that is just what came to us. If we had found a better location somewhere on the road, on 74 or some other big highway, we probably would have gone there first,” he explained. “We didn’t find anything, and a lot of these people are struggling to feed their families, so we wanted to look and see what we could do as a community, from the vendors, to get these people going again, feeding their families, and continuing on with their lives as well.”

Diaz reiterated that he and his fellow vendors are deeply sympathetic to residents and their emotions over his family’s business venture.

But at the end of the day, he feels, “This is not a matter of emotion, this is more a matter of legality, like it was told at the last meeting. We are just here to sell our goods and bring positive change, even though some people might not believe it is a positive change, to the county. I think everyone has their own version of their American Dream, and I think our American Dream is building something that will withstand the test of time.”

Diaz confided his hope that a hundred years from now the flea market will still be standing with lines of families eager to come in and spend a day making a memory there.

The interrogation

Following returning proceedings back to the Board of Commissioners, Commissioner Jarvis Woodburn called Diaz to return to the podium to answer questions from he and his fellow commissioners.

“Based on the concerns that we are hearing, what do you plan to put in place to ensure that what is sold at your flea market is going to be first quality items, and then second of all, what do you plan to have in place to make sure that there is no illegal activity and no violence?”

Eager to receive the question, Diaz answered, “The first part of your question, the quality of goods, in the state of North Carolina, we all know it is illegal to sell any counterfeit goods. If we see any sort of illegal activity, like selling counterfeit goods, knives, weapons, or drugs, any sort of that and they will be automatically taken off the property, local government will be contacted, and they will proceed with their legal actions, which is as much as we can do from a business standpoint.”

Diaz further confided, “All the vendors there are owners, so everybody as an owner, we, as a collective, have agreed if you see something, say something.”

The flea market has previously proposed, and spoken with Sheriff Scott Howell, to gain approval for at least two off-duty deputies to be stationed, along with their patrol car, on the premises of the property during hours of business operation. The security detail will be paid for by the flea market and not Anson County tax payers.

Detailing the relatable analogy of the scrap metal process, Commissioner JD Bricken spoke up to inquire, “If you were to bring scrap metal to the metal yard, they require a photo ID and then when you sell them the metal they will have a record of where it came from. A lot of people will bring stuff to your program project that you don’t necessarily know the origin of, would you have something similar like that [photo id for vendors]?”

Agreeing they would have a similar process in place as to the scrap metal yard, Diaz clarified, “We would have something similar where every vendor has their photo ID logged in our database at the front office. Every vendor, even if it is just once, or if they are recurring vendors every weekend, they are going to have their photo, their information, saved in our database.”

He went on to explain the information would be handed over to law enforcement, should it be needed, “and if they need any additional information we are more than happy to help. That goes for the catalogs as well, a lot of vendors work with catalogs, so we will have to see what catalogs they are bringing in, making sure that they are not counterfeits, that they are their own brand.”

Addressing parking concerns shared by citizens, Commissioner Priscilla Little-Reed interjected, “They saying there is an issue with parking, where are the people going to be parking at when they come?”

Answering Little-Reed, Diaz responded, “The way it is setup, I wish I had a picture of it, it is in the back for all the customers. We approximated there are around four hundred spots for cars. It depends on how many people come in a car, but that is just as much as we can predict, about four hundred cars that can fit in the back. On the sides of the actual chicken houses are spots for the vendors to park.”

The Diaz’s envision each vendor parking behind their booth for the day, preventing an interruption to the naturally planned traffic flow from occurring.

“There is a one way road where emergency vehicles, EMS, police officers, can get through with no issue and back out, it has all been cleared for that specific reason,” he continued.

Sticking with the same line of questioning as Little-Reed, Commissioner Robert Mims, asked, “You said there are four hundred parking spaces, let’s say five hundred people are out there, what are you going to do with the extra hundred cars?”

Diaz patiently explained his management team will be in place to help direct the flow of traffic should an unforeseen crowd of eager flea market attendees suddenly descend on the venue, adding, “We can figure out a way to deal with the extra cars, whether that be unattended vendor spaces that are not being used… we will not interrupt the flow of traffic on Faulkner Rd. We will have it inside the property,” he promised. “We as the business owners and management team will be in charge of directing traffic and making sure that nothing happens.”

“But you are aware that you cannot park on the side of Faulkner Rd., you have to be on your property,” questioned Caudle, seeking a pledge of specificity from Diaz.

“We will only be parking inside the flea market, no parking on the outside. We have purchased signs that say no parking, so if we see any parking there they will be towed at their own expense,” declared Diaz.

Desiring to bring attention to an economic boon where one can be found, Commissioner Bricken announced, with the support of Sheriff Howell, that off-duty officers hired to secure the flea market will be paid an hourly wage of $40.00.

For his part, Caudle questioned Diaz on why architectural drawings for the facility have not been submitted to date.

“It is a process where we have our structural engineer, our electrical engineer, and then as far as a plumbing engineer goes, we have not really decided yet because we are not even open yet. We cannot install bathroom facilities as a set building so we will have portable restrooms, but they will be designated, and we have spoken with the health department on how many we need. It is a process where I believe we have done structural first, and now we are just waiting on our electrical engineer to finish up his drawings so they can submit it to our architect, so that they can get all the drawings together and present one big, nice blueprint to y’all so you guys can look over it and make sure everything is good to go.”

Inviting the Anson County tax assessor and planning officer, Larry Newton, to the podium, Commissioner Lawrence Gatewood jovially sympathized that he was glad to not be in Newton’s shoes for the public hearing.

“Regarding the Internal Review Committee, could you just briefly tell us what that committee does,” he requested.

Acquiescing, Newton explained that the committee is made up of departments that are related to the influence that particular development would bring to the county. Newton cautioned that not every department will be involved in all of the review processes, but that every department that will be influenced by it, whether it be law enforcement, EMS, or Fire and Rescue services, need to contribute to the process to determine if the business is something the county can sustain and allow to be located in the county safely.

“We are basically concerned with public health, safety, and welfare,” summed up Newton.

Segueing to his next question, Gatewood again regaled the audience, reliving the horrifying moment he drove over to Faulkner Rd. and took in the totality of the proposed project. He recalled wondering in shock how the flea market got approval, and was prompted to ask, “Was there anyone from the Internal Review Committee that went up to the site to inspect it, came back, and gave a report?”

“No, there was not,” answered Newton.

“On reflection, do you think that was a mistake,” followed up Gatewood, to which Newton confidently answered, “No, I do not.”

Pointing out that Hopewell Methodist Church is within a mile from the location of the future flea market, Gatewood inquired if the church had been taken into account.

“No,” curtly answered Newton, adding, “We have to keep in mind too, that with no zoning in the county, with public, health, safety, and welfare, the issue, the people have a vested right to do what is lawful on that property. Zoning is the cushion that either slows that down or stops it and brings it into more focus, whether you allow it or you don’t.”

Continuing to question Newton, Gatewood asked, “And they have the right even in consideration of the potential impact it could have on the community and the citizens that reside in that area, lived in that area for many, many years?”

Dodging answering with a yes or no, Newton instead noted that all necessary officials and departments have been involved from the outset of the flea market planning process through the Internal Review Committee.

As long as the flea market is not conducting, condoning, or harboring illegal activity on its premises, Newton reiterated, “They still have a vested right to do what we allow them to do in those zoned areas.”

Turning to Caudle, Gatewood inquired, “Do we know when DOT will have their assessments available?”

Citing a recently received email, Caudle stated, “On March 26 an email was sent to the NCDOT’s district engineer from [County Manager Leonard Sossaman] requesting a traffic study for the proposed Faulkner Rd. flea market. He was responded to by the NCDOT, which says, ‘The NCDOT typically does not do traffic impact analysis studies for developments that are coming in. If those developments meet our criteria for a traffic study, then we would require them to do one.’”

It was further noted in the email from NCDOT that the owner of the flea market visited their office to inquire about a driveway permit process. In addition to submitting for an access permit, we have asked the applicant to provide trip generation for their site. This will give us a better idea of the volume of traffic going in and out of their site. In general, we require a traffic impact analysis for developments with an estimated trip generation of 3,000 trips per day.”

Caudle added that commissioners had received no further correspondence from NCDOT officials regarding the flea market, only that, “They [NCDOT] are waiting on Mr. Diaz to submit his plans as to the estimated trips per day (data), DOT will then see if they meet that criteria. Anson County does not have the authority to request that the DOT do a traffic study, they are telling us they don’t do it unless the company meets that requirement,” emphasized Caudle.

Following a motion made by Woodburn, and seconded by Gatewood, commissioners voted unanimously to end the public hearing.

The Vote

“I make a motion that we do not move forward with implementing a moratorium at this time. My research on moratoriums (indicates) that moratoriums do not prevent a business from locating in a place that is not zoned, based on the fact that it is going to create a change to a community.

A moratorium is issued only if it meets certain criteria, as our county attorney (Scott Forbes) has stated previously,” reasoned Chairman Caudle.

Following Caudle’s declaration, Little-Reed voiced her agreement, quietly stating, “I second that motion.”

Interjecting a final moment of clarity, Bricken interjected,“I just want to point out that all the proper authorities are still in place with or without a moratorium.”

After the brief discussion, commissioners voted 6 to 1 in favor of not moving forward with a moratorium against flea markets in Anson County.

Commissioners’ Caudle, Bricken, Mims, Woodburn, Smith, and Little-Reed, all voted in favor of the motion put forth by Chairman Caudle. Commissioner Lawrence Gatewood cast the sole dissenting vote.