Despite some concerns over neighborhood traffic and safety impacts, San Clemente’s South OC Cars and Coffee will be able to continue hosting the popular event after city leaders this week backed away from imposing any new terms on its conditional use permit.
Dozens of people came to city hall to show their appreciation for the show.
[Read: Meet The People Behind America’s Biggest Car Show.]
“Laguna Beach is known for the Sawdust festival and the pageant of the masters, Huntington Beach is known for the air show and surf festival, San Clemente is known for Cars and Coffee,” said one of the event’s founders, James Wehr at a public meeting this week debating the future of the show.
“The city should be proud of it, embrace it and support it,” Wehr said.
Although the event is beloved by many, it came under fire recently over complaints regarding noise and speed in surrounding neighborhoods, which triggered a city council meeting to reevaluate the terms of the show’s conditional use permit.
[Read: South Orange County’s Largest Car Show Draws Resident Complaints]
The main challenge for Cars and Coffee revolves around police enforcement as people leave the show.
At the public meeting, Outlets Security Manager Ralph Garmajo stated “Officers respond quickly whenever we call them. We have a great rapport… “My team, Cars and Coffee’s team and the OC sheriffs, we do a phenomenal job at keeping everybody safe,”
Even so, complaints over noise and speeding in surrounding neighborhoods are still present.
“When you take away the emotion, this is what your left with.” said resident San Clemente resident Denise Zivolich in the January 20 council meeting, referencing the tickets and citations illustrated in the city staff report
The main push is for better security in the areas around the event. Yet the main question with enforcement is, who pays for it?
It was originally suggested by city staff that Cars and Coffee create a contract with the San Clemente Police Services which would cost them around $1,350 per week for six hours of work for two deputies each.
However after a flood of public support for the show on Tuesday night during the city council’s regular meeting, with around 50 different speakers advocating for the show’s beneficial financial effects, safety and community value, city leaders reconsidered their approach.
San Clemente Mayor Pro Tem Steve Knoblock said event organizers should not be responsible for policing outside the show.
Knoblock also added that the city has lent out dozens of deputies on occasion to high school and other social events, arguing that it should not be an issue.
Mayor Rick Loeffler supported this view, adding “If we can manage our deputy, the city can pay for that management. We can deploy them out of our regular deployment.”
While San Clemente Police Chief, Justin Chevalier, initially said in an email response to Voice of OC earlier this week that a dedicated deputy every week for the event would require overtime payments and put the city in an unsafe position by tying up deputies, he adjusted his strategy after the public meeting.
In an email response on Jan. 20 before the city council meeting, Chevalier stated, “Assigning deputies to remain stationed at or immediately around the event location for extended periods would limit their ability to respond promptly to emergencies or calls for service elsewhere in San Clemente.”
Chevalier noted, “This could negatively impact overall response times and resource allocation, which we must avoid in favor of maintaining flexible, citywide coverage.”
Yet the day after, noting the direction from the city council meeting, Chevalier wrote in an email response that partial enforcement could work – with officers patrolling around the event once or twice a month, stating in an email that “Deputies are more than capable of handling traffic safety concerns effectively under our current police services deployment model.”