POMPANO BEACH, Fla. -- The future of the Broward County Fair could be in jeopardy because of a lack of parking.

Safety concerns are blocking efforts to bring the Broward County Fair, established in 1976, to the Festival Flea Market Mall. Organizers were denied a permit to turn nearby land into temporary parking spots.

"Parking is one of the biggest concerns, to get people in and out of there safely," said Sandra King, spokeswoman for the city of Pompano Beach. "Fire is another concern. The closest fire hydrant to where they want to hold this is 1,500 feet. These things have to be worked out before you can go ahead and allow 10s of thousands of people to congregate."

Fair spokeswoman Elaine Fitzgerald said most of those pending issues have already been worked out.

"The issues that remain, I think, are minor and technical," said Fitzgerald.

Some plans, though, still need to be outlined on paper and turned over to the city.

"We don't feel there's any issue that we can't work out amicably and very well," said Fitzgerald. "The fair has had very good relations with the city of Pompano Beach for many, many years."

A number of fair supporters attended Tuesday night's city council meeting to plead with commissioners to keep the fair alive. Commissioners, though, said they were already working on a compromise behind closed doors.

"I don't think any of us want to see the fair stopped at this point in time," said Commissioner Rex Hardin.

City Manager Keith Chadwell echoed the same sentiments.

"I'll work as diligently as we can to resolve all unresolved issues that remain at this time," said Chadwell.

King said the city just needs "to make sure everybody's safe."

"What happened (at Tuesday night's council meeting) was everything we wanted to hear," said Fitzgerald.