San Clemente’s Planning Commission voted 5–0 on Dec. 7 to permit a long-standing car show to continue running weekly at its Outlets shopping mall.
Named “South Orange County Cars and Coffee,” the show has been staged Saturday mornings on the upper level of the Outlet’s parking garage since 2017.
The city had classified it as a “seasonal” event. The change to a “weekly” event designation allows the mall to provide the car show with four management staff, four security personnel, and on-site signage to direct the event’s functions.
At the meeting last week, representatives of the Outlets, the car show, and police department voiced support with the planning commission for the change.
“[The car show] has been a tremendous positive impact for our center as well as the City of San Clemente over the past five years,” said Outlets General Manager Susan Jennrich.
The car show was founded by father and son Simon and James Wehr for automotive enthusiasts in Southern California to gather and share their passion.
“We’ve grown to be the largest weekly car show in the U.S., attracting hundreds of families and potential clients to the Outlets, many of whom are willing to spend money in the city of San Clemente,” James Wehr said just prior to the commission’s vote. “We are simply asking to keep running what we successfully have the past several years.”
Planning commissioners considered cutting the car show to bi-weekly, following several traffic and noise complaints from residents. However, they agreed to allow it to continue running weekly, as long as the car show organizers log and track complaints, as well as conduct a review of security plans annually with city and police department staff to make necessary improvements.
