Organizers Don't stop the carnival

This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press March 3, 2001.

By BOB WILSON
Valley Press Staff Writer

PALMDALE - Organizers were expected to make a second attempt Friday to schedule a carnival outside the Palmdale International Shopping Mall after city officials denied a temporary-use permit for the outdoor fair.

Supporters of the event filled City Council chambers Thursday to protest denial of the initial request to the city's Planning Commission.

They did so during the portion of the commission meeting reserved for items other than those listed on the panel's agenda.

A Feb. 8 request for a permit was denied because the number of parking spaces purportedly were too few to accommodate both customers and carnival, according to Rex McCoy, the general manager of the mall.

"From what we understand, we lack two or four parking places," McCoy said.

Representatives of other businesses in the shopping center, located on the southeast corner of 25th Street East and Palmdale Boulevard, have expressed a willingness to allow carnival patrons to share their parking, McCoy said.

Also, the shopping mall has the capacity to accommodate about 50 vehicles in a space used for auto repairs by Kmart, the building's previous tenant, he said.

McCoy asked the Planning Commission to review the matter and find a way to accommodate the carnival, slated to open March 15.

According to the conditional-use permit under which the mall operates, it may hold up to three carnivals or other events each year, he said.

Notice of the denial was not received until Feb. 22, after posters, fliers and other forms of advertising had been purchased to announce the event, said Don Maurer, speaking on behalf of Paul Maurer Shows of Huntington Beach.

In addition, word of the denial came not from the city but from a competitor, said Maurer, who also asked for a review of the matter by those empowered to alter administrative decisions.

Because the matter was not an item slated for consideration, the Planning Commission was prohibited by state law from taking any action or giving planning staff any direction, said Cesar Bertaud, Palmdale's senior deputy city attorney.

In order for the commission to take action, an appeal of the denial would have to be filed and the public would have to be properly notified, Bertaud said.

Because the commission lacks the authority to schedule special meetings, it could not act on the matter until March 15, he said.

Thomas Bailey, owner of the KNK Kollectibles shop in the mall, said filing an appeal would be pointless if the matter could not be discussed until the day the carnival was supposed to open.

Bailey asked commission Chairman John Mayfield if there were any planning procedures available other than filing an appeal.

"I'm not asking you to decide nothing," Bailey said. "I'm asking you just to explain one of your procedures."

Jumping into the conversation, Commissioner Steve Hofbauer pointed out that nothing barred the applicants from withdrawing their previous application and - after determining what changes would have to be made to satisfy the city's parking requirements - submitting a new application for administrative review.

"That's correct," Bertaud said.

"There's the other option," Hofbauer told the carnival's supporters.

Mayfield advised the carnival's proponents to meet again with Palmdale's planning staff to see if the matter can be resolved so that the carnival can open as scheduled.

Despite the suggestion, shopping mall developer Lev Yasnogordsky said he was disappointed with planning officials who seemed more interested in hampering efforts to bolster business on the city's east side than in bolstering them.

McCoy said the carnival was planned in an attempt to generate more public interest in the shopping center, which has placed more than 50 vendors in a building that was boarded up for at least eight years.

Laurie Lile, the city's director of planning, was out of the office Friday and unavailable for comment.