Task force to study future of City Market

The City Council has agreed to form a task force that will help decide the future of the Charlottesville City Market, including recommending the best potential locations.

“It’s an asset that all of us want to see thrive and sustained,” Mayor Dave Norris said.

Councilors discussed the market’s future at a work session Thursday. Local nonprofit Market Central Inc. has been pushing to get a permanent home for the City Market, and city officials have entertained moving the market, but nothing has come to fruition.

The calls have grown louder as it has become increasingly evident that the market’s location on Water Street, its spot since 1993 on less than an acre near the Downtown Mall, is becoming too cramped for all of its vendors and patrons. The parking lot, a valuable piece of downtown property, has also been envisioned as a spot for development.

Because of the abundance of vendors, the market now spills out of the slanted Water Street parking lot and onto First Street South as well. The Saturday morning Charlottesville staple has more than 100 vendors selling flowers, produce, crafts and other food products between April and November. 

Dan Zimmerman, a member of Market Central, said the fact that the market’s “temporary home” has been that for 17 years is “indicative of the attention it’s gotten from City Council.”

“We feel the market deserves a permanent home,” he said.

City officials said the task force would primarily be responsible for looking at locations and recommending which ones to pursue, as well as weighing the most important criteria for the site.

“For me as a councilor and a periodic shopper of the market, I have a pretty limited view of what’s important to vendors,” Councilor David Brown said. “It is important to have a structure where we have input from stakeholders.”

Possible criteria to prioritize include the size of the market space, long-term availability, closeness to downtown, access to parking, shelter, vendor and customer accessibility, restrooms and seating.

“I don’t think it’s about structure at all, I think it’s about longevity,” Zimmerman said.

Councilors did look at some locations for the market — including Court Square, the Downtown Mall, the Jefferson School, McIntire Park, part of the east end of the mall combined with part of the Pavilion, the top of the LexisNexis parking deck and surface parking near the Albemarle County Office Building on McIntire Road. But no decisions were made during Thursday’s work session.

“No site in this town is perfect,” said Councilor Satyendra Huja, who joked that he frequents the city market more than he goes to church.

Councilors said the task force should also consider how many vendors the market should have, because if the operation gets too large it could be detrimental to the sellers.

This year to date, the market has made more than $1.3 million, compared with about $314,700 in 2000, according to city officials.

“I don’t think we continually need to increase the number of vendors,” said Eric Plaksin, who comes from Sperryville to sell produce at the market. Plaksin said he thought moving the market could be harmful because people have gotten used to going to the same location for 17 years.

“I think that moving the market is a dangerous thing to do,” he said. “It’s hard to imagine a new spot that [is] better.”

City staff will now create the proposal for the task force, and its work is expected to be completed over three to four months.