Cambria Christmas Market is hoping to expand. Here’s how popular holiday event could change
The owner of Cambria Pines Lodge wants to expand the popular Cambria Christmas Market, which attracts thousands of people to the North Coast each holiday season.
Now it’s up to county planners and supervisors as to how much more Dirk Winter, whose Moonstone Hotel Properties operates hotels on the Central Coast and in Oregon, can add to the annual event.
Winter’s application for a permit that would include his proposed changes which drew mostly negative comments at the North Coast Advisory Council’s May 19 Zoom meeting.
At the end of a long session of public comment and council discussion, NCAC members voted unanimously to recommend approval of the permit — but with the strong suggestion that Winter meet all of San Luis Obispo County’s requirements.
NCAC members also advised that a lot of Winter’s requests not be approved.
The advisory council’s votes aren’t binding; the group makes recommendations to county supervisors and departments.
Cambria hotel owner looks to expand Christmas Market
Winter wants to extensively expand the Christmas Market, which traditionally begins the day after Thanksgiving and runs for more than a month. The event, also billed as Lights in the Pines, features more than 2 million holiday lights and other displays.
His plans initially included increasing the Christmas market’s days of operation from five days a week to seven, and increasing the market’s open hours.
Winter also wants to add up to 15 more vendor booths. The current limit is 35.
Those booths would ideally remain standing throughout the year, according to Winter’s application. Current restrictions specify that they be removed, although some have allegedly not been taken down.
In addition, Winter wants to expand the trolley and shuttle service route that ferries visitors to and from the Christmas Market to include hotel guests along Moonstone Beach Drive.
Finally, he’d like to extend the Christmas Market permit to a 10-year period; the current permit is for five years.
Winter confirmed via email that he’s since removed his request to keep the market open seven days a week from the permit, but he didn’t indicate if he was willing to make any other changes.
Winter said that his “architect is trying to determine what modifications the county wants on our traffic plan,” and that a date for a county Planning Department or Planning Commission hearing has not been set yet.
North Coast Advisory Council, county planners react
The North Coast Advisory Council’s May 21 letter to county planners recommended that the permit conditions should require Winter to abide strictly to all permit requirements and have the new permit effective for no more than five years.
The council also wants to limit vendor booths to no more than 35 — unless fire officials and county planners say that more would be acceptable — and limit operations to five days a week or less, as set out in the current permit.
NCAC members also requested that, once Winter finishes updating his application, that it be resubmitted to the council for re-review and action.
County planners have a hold on the application, pending receipt of additional information they want from Winter. They detailed the lacks in an April 12 letter.
County planners want Winter to submit an updated traffic study and traffic control plan evaluating potential impacts from the proposed modifications — such as a summary of existing traffic conditions, discussions about non-peak and peak times and potential vendor traffic and circulation impacts if the number of booths is increased.
They also requested “a clear, legible site plan” of the Christmas Market location, a map that would identify a number of locations and answer some questions.
In addition, planners want more details about the proposed Moonstone Beach Drive shuttle plan and legible maps of that area, including where the shuttles would cross Highway 1 and be in downtown Cambria.
Why does Cambria Christmas Market need to expand?
When Winter spoke to the council, he highlighted the “why” behind some of his requests.
He said that he’s “attempting to recreate the authentic look of a German Christmas market.”
Winter said leaving the booths standing all year makes environmental and economic sense, adding that it would save about $1,000 per booth. “If they can be torn down easily, they don’t look as authentic,” he said.
He said operating the Christmas Market five days a week creates “too much confusion,” because the millions of holiday lights are on seven days a week for the benefit of Cambria Pines Lodge patrons.
On the off days, some of them turn into “unhappy guests when they learn the market’s not open during their visits,” he said.
A 10-year permit would allow market organizers to make “all sorts of improvements,” Winter said, such as to the bus service, which, with a longer-term commitment, could invest in more efficient buses.
Winter also said that “vendors want to be sure the market will be open longer term.”
Application has ‘many errors, inconsistencies’
The council’s Land Use Committee felt that Winter’s current application … was found to have many errors, inconsistencies and outdated material from the 2016 application.”
The committee also recommended that planners review the permit under a different ordinance “as more appropriate governing documents for this ever-expanding event and its relationship to our community.”
During the council’s May 19 Zoom meeting, about a dozen community members commented on the proposal. While some said nice things about the Christmas Market, all took issue with at least some part of Winter’s proposal.
Roland Soucie, who lives in the area near Cambria Pines Lodge, thinks that “a substantial number of residents feel like I do, that a two-day reprieve was welcome” each week.
He said the diesel fumes from the event are substantial, and noise from the event’s music carries over into neighborhoods, even though there are bushes and trees in the way.
“This is Cambria, not Germany,” Ted Key said. “This event definitely has a huge impact on our community.”
He said he didn’t feel that limiting the market to “35 booths will make this any less popular.”
Cambria business owners Oz Barron and Kris Gregson said they “appreciate what Mr. Winter has done … with a nice site up there. But the market has really kind of overwhelmed our little town and negatively affected many businesses.”
They said restaurateurs say “people are 20 to 30 minutes late for their reservations because they can’t find parking,” and that the market “is pulling business out of town.”
Laura Swartz called the Christmas Market “a lovely event. We’ve enjoyed it. But to have it seven days a week is not a good thing for residents. We try to work around all the tourists. We hide in the woods. It’s a lovely drive down Burton (Drive), but we can’t go that way during the market.”
She also noted that “a lot of the houses across from there are all going up for sale. What does that tell you?”
In the past, neighbors have complained about lax traffic control, heavy traffic making it difficult to get to their homes and noisy buses and trolleys, among other issues.
Downtown shops and restaurants have said their sales are reduced during the Christmas Market, in part because people dine and recreate at the event.
Some also have complained that their customers can’t find places to park, because market guests tie up downtown parking spaces, even though they’re not supposed to do so.
Some market attendees park at the Lodge. Others park off site at locations specified by the event, locations from which the bus or trolley picks them up and then returns them after their visit.
