Longtime Eureka flea mart to close
by Wendy Butler, 9/29/2006
Flea Market by the Bay will be closing its doors after 20 years.
Preston Properties owner Patrick O’Dell issued a letter to vendors on Sept. 19. It stated that the flea mart would be closed as of Nov. 30.
He wrote that “economic conditions have made it necessary to make changes in the space you occupy.”
Preston Property Manager Doe Neal said by phone that no other tenant has been secured.
Neal said that Preston will most likely use the space for “some RV storage” in the interim.
“Eventually, we’ll be looking for a new tenant,” she said.
Preston has owned the approximately 17-acre parcel at the foot of Del Norte Street since around 1990. The land is adjacent to PALCO Marsh and a public fishing pier.
Humboldt Baykeeper Director Pete Nichols said that the flea mart’s closure “has no effect” on the lawsuit that his organization and Californians for Alternatives to Toxics filed against Preston Properties and Simpson Timber Co. in July. The lawsuit claims violations under the Clean Water Act and the Resource Conservation Recovery Act.
The lawsuit alleges toxic contamination at the former Simpson Plywood Mill. The site, the organizations claim, was contaminated with the wood preservative pentachlorophenol, or “penta,” when Simpson used it to treat marine plywood manufactured at the mill site.
The North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board issued a cleanup and abatement order in 1998. The property had been an active forest-produce site since the late 1800s.
Both Preston and Simpson have said they are working to protect Humboldt Bay from contamination.
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