"The proposed use is considered a temporary use with the upcoming demolition of Paul Ecke School." That's how the City of Encinitas staff report described the Leucadia Farmers Market's new home at Oak Crest Middle School when the move was approved this spring.
The market runs at Oak Crest because the school on Union Street is being rebuilt. Whether it ever goes back depends on three things, and none of them has a date yet: when the rebuild finishes, how the new campus is laid out, and what Leucadia 101 Mainstreet decides. Each of those got clearer in October. Taken together, they suggest the Sunday market will stay off the coast longer than most people assumed in June.
Twenty years on Union Street ended June 7
The market spent two decades on the Paul Ecke Central Elementary campus at 185 Union Street, near North Vulcan Avenue. It held its last market there on June 7, 2026, then skipped a Sunday while a neighbor appeal of the Oak Crest permits went through City Hall, The Coast News reported.
The City Council voted unanimously to deny the appeal on June 17, and the market reopened at Oak Crest on June 21. Leucadia 101 Mainstreet, which runs the market, had to move because of the construction planned at Paul Ecke Central.
The new site has a lower ceiling. Before the appeal, organizers had already agreed to cut the maximum vendor count from 195 to about 135 and to keep market activity 200 feet back from the school's southern property line. The first Oak Crest Sunday drew 116 vendors: 26 farmers, 25 hot-food vendors, 15 craft vendors and 50 packaged-food vendors.
Under the council's resolution, any "intensification or modification" of the market now needs Planning Commission review and approval. So whatever the market looks like this Sunday is close to the most it can be at this address without another public hearing.
A Sunday at 675 Balour Drive
The market now calls itself the Leucadia-Encinitas Farmers Market. Its official site lists Sundays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Oak Crest Middle School, 675 Balour Drive, and describes the site as "a new location with ocean views and A LOT more parking."
For anyone coming from the 101 corridor, the trip has changed a lot. Getting to the old market was a short walk or ride along Vulcan. Getting to the new one means heading east toward Encinitas Boulevard. The city's traffic analysis notes a dedicated southbound turn lane from Encinitas Boulevard onto Balour Drive, with market traffic entering and leaving through Balour Drive and Oakcrest Drive.
Here's how a Sunday works now:
- Park in a sanctioned lot. The market directs shoppers to the Encinitas Community Center, Rhoades Preschool across the street, or the Boys & Girls Club, which is a short walk from the back entrance.
- Skip the residential streets. The council required signs banning market parking at St. John's Catholic Church and along five nearby streets, listed below.
- Or ride. Leucadia Cyclery sponsors a free bike valet with tune-ups, and riders get "Bike Bucks" to spend at the market.
The streets posted against market parking:
- San Andrade Drive
- San Abella Drive
- Island View Lane
- Scarlett Way
- Guadalajara Drive
The market promises the same familiar vendors as before. Its current spotlight is Smit Farms, a family operation since 1969, which brings fall apples, table grapes, nuts, dried fruit and fresh-pressed apple cider. The move also brings something new: part of the market's proceeds now goes to the Oak Crest Foundation to support the host school's students, programs and teachers.
The rebuild on the coast keeps its own calendar
When the market might return depends on Paul Ecke Central, and that project's schedule has already moved once. Demolition started on August 12, the first day of classes in the Encinitas Union School District. By the end of August, The Coast News reported that the August 2027 reopening the district had planned was unlikely after summer delays.
October brought the first real movement in months:
| Date | Milestone |
|---|---|
| Aug. 12, 2026 | Demolition begins at Paul Ecke Central |
| Sept. 26, 2026 | PEC ♥ ASAP launches a petition asking the city and district to speed up approvals |
| Oct. 2, 2026 | City and district release a joint statement outlining a path forward |
| Oct. 13, 2026 | Drainage, grading, traffic queuing, frontage and right-of-way issues declared resolved; rough grading scheduled to begin that week |
| Oct. 21, 2026 | City Manager tells the City Council that rough-grading permits have been issued |
| Oct. 27, 2026 | Administrative hearing set for Phase 2 of the Coastal Development Permit, followed by an approximately 20-day appeal period |
| 2027 | Expected completion, per the district's Oct. 13 statement |
At the Oct. 21 council meeting, City Manager Jennifer Campbell said, "I actually drove by and saw tractors moving and hauling dirt and everything else," according to The Coast News. The district's own update says on-site building is expected to start once the Phase 2 permit process and its appeal window are done.
Grading is underway and vertical construction is still ahead. The project's target has moved from August 2027 to simply 2027.
A compact campus with a long list of jobs
A finished building still doesn't guarantee a return. The approximately $60 million rebuild, paid for by Measure Z, is designed by DLR Group as "a contemporary school in a garden," with classrooms grouped around gardens and outdoor learning spaces. The original 1927 schoolhouse is being kept, and its interior will become the school's library media center.
All of that has to fit on a small site. In an October commentary, the parent and neighbor group PEC ♥ ASAP listed the demands on the campus: preserving the historic schoolhouse, adding classroom space, keeping gardens and play areas, accommodating the Leucadia Farmers Market, and leaving room for a future widening of Vulcan Avenue.
The market did come up during design. At the district's second community input session, DLR Group reviewed "community considerations such as the Farmers Market and parking." Being discussed in a workshop is a long way from having space set aside on a site plan, though. Leucadia 101 hasn't committed to coming back either. Executive Director Stacy Reddell told The Coast News in June that whether the market returns to Paul Ecke Central is still unclear and will be decided later. She also said:
"We would love to bring a market back to Paul Ecke Central. Hopefully, we will be able to do something really wonderful with them."
In the same interview, Reddell said the permitting process for Oak Crest had given her a new appreciation for how much work it takes to secure a suitable site. Bringing the market back to the coast would most likely mean going through that process again on a campus built mainly for students. Oak Crest's permits, meanwhile, are already in hand.
What that means for a Leucadia Sunday
The rebuild finishes sometime in 2027, the new campus has many competing uses, and the market's operator hasn't decided. Each of those adds time to the stay at Oak Crest, so the temporary location is likely to serve as the market's home for at least the next several seasons.
For now, a Sunday market trip from Leucadia means a short drive or bike ride east to Balour Drive. Shoppers can park in one of the three sanctioned lots or leave the bike with the Leucadia Cyclery valet. The quickest way to catch schedule changes, including holiday-week hours, is the market's Instagram at @theleucadiafarmersmarket and Leucadia 101's at @leucadia101mainstreet. Questions go to [email protected].
Karen Morton keeps track of changes like this one because they shape how a neighborhood's week actually works, from where people shop on Sunday to which streets get busy. If you own in Leucadia and want to understand how projects like the Paul Ecke Central rebuild and the market's move fit into your home's story, Karen Morton Homes can walk you through it. Request a complimentary market & staging consultation.
