Big Box Retailer Hits Rift with Residents
By Corey Lyons
Contra Costa Newspapers
March 10, 2002
ANTIOCH - When Wal-Mart opened here in early 2000, the retail behemoth was embraced like a foreign prince in a growing city with a severe shortage of big-box businesses.
But two years later, the relationship between the city and the nation's No. 1 retailer has evolved into a royal pain.
While the giant store generated about $470,000 in sales-tax revenue during its first year, its reputation as a good neighbor has been called into question by frustrated residents and city officials.
Nearly five dozen complaints and a handful of code violations have been lodged against the 134,000-square-foot store in the past 18 months.
The wide range of complaints include noisy, late-night trucks and stacks of foul-smelling fertilizer bags, campers in the parking lot, and an unsightly collection of outdoor storage containers.
Last month, Wal-Mart representatives met with city officials to resolve the issues and improve relations, a move that neighbors viewed as a critical step forward. Each side is hopeful that relations will improve.
"I think Wal-Mart and the city are moving in a positive direction," said City Attorney Bill Galstan, who recently suggested to the City Council that the store's use permit be reviewed and updated. "We've cleared the air. It seems like some of our concerns were addressed. We just need to have some of the rules clarified."
The sprawling store is on Lone Tree Way in southeast Antioch, which is ground zero for the city's housing boom.
"We're not going to let this corporation bully us," said Richard Beaman, an Antioch resident who lives near Wal-Mart and cobbled a few neighbors together to take their grievances to City Hall.
"We've taken the steps to the city and finally got some satisfaction. But we will not be satisfied until we get 100 percent satisfaction."
The issue underscores the increasingly fitful relationship between communities and the big-box retailers that move there.
Cities revolt
It's a perpetual and evolving fight. Residents say big-box stores increase traffic, noise, crime and have the potential to force local merchants out of business.
California cities have sought relief with the ballot to settle the rifts that develop between leery neighborhoods and retail titans.
On March 5, two big-box retail plans were approved and two were defeated statewide.
In East Palo Alto, voters narrowly approved the construction of an Ikea furniture store, a hot-button issue in a decaying city overshadowed by its more affluent neighbors.
Five miles away, voters in Mountain View overwhelmingly opposed the construction of a Home Depot, despite the chain's aggressive marketing campaign.
There, residents living in neighborhoods that wrapped around the proposed 125,000-square-foot store worried that their streets would be choked by shoppers and loud delivery trucks.
In the southern California city of Agoura Hills, residents narrowly approved an initiative that prohibits the construction of any retail building larger than 60,000 square feet. The issue reached voters after residents rallied against a proposed Home Depot.
And in Calexico, a growing border city in Imperial County, voters embraced a Wal-Mart-backed proposal to overturn the limits on the amount of floor space that large retailers can use for grocery sales.
Locally, the big-boxers also have inspired debate.
Some ordinances in East Bay cities - including Antioch - make it illegal for trailers and RVs to establish campsites on the fringes of Wal-Mart parking lots, a phenomenon that company officials have been known to encourage.
Livermore began cracking down on campers at its Wal-Mart more than a year ago, prompting store managers to start posting signs warning customers that they no longer could stay overnight.
Yet droves of shoppers continue to find solace in places big enough to sell tires and TVs under the same roof. And city leaders lick their chops over the impressive sales-tax windfall.
"Neighborhoods across the nation have found out the hard way that stores like Wal-Mart and Lowe's or Home Depot are simply too big and out of scale to be a good neighbor," said Al Norton, author of "Slam-Dunking Wal-Mart."
Norton is also the founder of a Web site called Sprawl-Busters.com, a network for people opposed to superstores whose battle cry is, "Your quality of life is worth more than a cheap pair of underwear."
Unhappy neighbors
But Peter Kanelos, a Wal-Mart spokesman in California, said the chain strives to satisfy its neighbors and said the complaints in Antioch have been addressed and are being taken seriously.
"Wal-Mart tries to be a good neighbor and an active community member," he said. "And as part of that effort, we take all issues to heart."
Nonetheless, controversy has followed the corporate gorillas, which have become familiar symbols of community ire even as they prove to be wildly popular destinations for consumers.
In Antioch, neighbors in the increasingly affluent southeast part of town have grumbled about being jolted from their sleep by the late-night disturbances at Wal-Mart.
A narrow sound wall separates the rear of the store at Williamson Ranch Plaza from rows of houses in a subdivision.
Residents have groused about street sweepers, glaring overhead lights, wailing security alarms, even forklift races in the parking lot.
In addition, store employees began piling large, rectangular storage containers on the west side of the property to alleviate an overflow of seasonal inventory.
In November, city code enforcement officers counted 47 containers there. About 10 remain, with promises to the city to have them removed within 90 days.
The issue provoked Mayor Don Freitas to call a meeting earlier this year with Wal-Mart attorneys and managers to discuss the problems.
"We don't want this store looking like other Wal-Marts, which is why we're looking out for them," said Denise Skaggs, coordinator of Antioch's Neighborhood Improvement Services.
"Their location is the gateway coming into the community from the southwest area. It's a visible store. And we want it to maintain our high standards."
The store has been warned of code violations that restrict trucks from making deliveries between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. It also has been told of an ordinance that prohibits trailers "as living quarters except in a mobile home or a trailer park."
Skaggs said she will be checking on the store weekly to ensure the retailer is abiding by the rules of its use permit, which is expected to be reviewed again by the city Planning Commission.
City officials are trying to better understand how to manage a big-box retailer. It hasn't been easy.
"I felt like I had failed," Skaggs said of the city's early relationship with Wal-Mart. "But we've had no previous history to go on. This is a whole new ballgame. We're kind of shaping our own future."
Contra Costa Newspapers
March 10, 2002
ANTIOCH - When Wal-Mart opened here in early 2000, the retail behemoth was embraced like a foreign prince in a growing city with a severe shortage of big-box businesses.
But two years later, the relationship between the city and the nation's No. 1 retailer has evolved into a royal pain.
While the giant store generated about $470,000 in sales-tax revenue during its first year, its reputation as a good neighbor has been called into question by frustrated residents and city officials.
Nearly five dozen complaints and a handful of code violations have been lodged against the 134,000-square-foot store in the past 18 months.
The wide range of complaints include noisy, late-night trucks and stacks of foul-smelling fertilizer bags, campers in the parking lot, and an unsightly collection of outdoor storage containers.
Last month, Wal-Mart representatives met with city officials to resolve the issues and improve relations, a move that neighbors viewed as a critical step forward. Each side is hopeful that relations will improve.
"I think Wal-Mart and the city are moving in a positive direction," said City Attorney Bill Galstan, who recently suggested to the City Council that the store's use permit be reviewed and updated. "We've cleared the air. It seems like some of our concerns were addressed. We just need to have some of the rules clarified."
The sprawling store is on Lone Tree Way in southeast Antioch, which is ground zero for the city's housing boom.
"We're not going to let this corporation bully us," said Richard Beaman, an Antioch resident who lives near Wal-Mart and cobbled a few neighbors together to take their grievances to City Hall.
"We've taken the steps to the city and finally got some satisfaction. But we will not be satisfied until we get 100 percent satisfaction."
The issue underscores the increasingly fitful relationship between communities and the big-box retailers that move there.
Cities revolt
It's a perpetual and evolving fight. Residents say big-box stores increase traffic, noise, crime and have the potential to force local merchants out of business.
California cities have sought relief with the ballot to settle the rifts that develop between leery neighborhoods and retail titans.
On March 5, two big-box retail plans were approved and two were defeated statewide.
In East Palo Alto, voters narrowly approved the construction of an Ikea furniture store, a hot-button issue in a decaying city overshadowed by its more affluent neighbors.
Five miles away, voters in Mountain View overwhelmingly opposed the construction of a Home Depot, despite the chain's aggressive marketing campaign.
There, residents living in neighborhoods that wrapped around the proposed 125,000-square-foot store worried that their streets would be choked by shoppers and loud delivery trucks.
In the southern California city of Agoura Hills, residents narrowly approved an initiative that prohibits the construction of any retail building larger than 60,000 square feet. The issue reached voters after residents rallied against a proposed Home Depot.
And in Calexico, a growing border city in Imperial County, voters embraced a Wal-Mart-backed proposal to overturn the limits on the amount of floor space that large retailers can use for grocery sales.
Locally, the big-boxers also have inspired debate.
Some ordinances in East Bay cities - including Antioch - make it illegal for trailers and RVs to establish campsites on the fringes of Wal-Mart parking lots, a phenomenon that company officials have been known to encourage.
Livermore began cracking down on campers at its Wal-Mart more than a year ago, prompting store managers to start posting signs warning customers that they no longer could stay overnight.
Yet droves of shoppers continue to find solace in places big enough to sell tires and TVs under the same roof. And city leaders lick their chops over the impressive sales-tax windfall.
"Neighborhoods across the nation have found out the hard way that stores like Wal-Mart and Lowe's or Home Depot are simply too big and out of scale to be a good neighbor," said Al Norton, author of "Slam-Dunking Wal-Mart."
Norton is also the founder of a Web site called Sprawl-Busters.com, a network for people opposed to superstores whose battle cry is, "Your quality of life is worth more than a cheap pair of underwear."
Unhappy neighbors
But Peter Kanelos, a Wal-Mart spokesman in California, said the chain strives to satisfy its neighbors and said the complaints in Antioch have been addressed and are being taken seriously.
"Wal-Mart tries to be a good neighbor and an active community member," he said. "And as part of that effort, we take all issues to heart."
Nonetheless, controversy has followed the corporate gorillas, which have become familiar symbols of community ire even as they prove to be wildly popular destinations for consumers.
In Antioch, neighbors in the increasingly affluent southeast part of town have grumbled about being jolted from their sleep by the late-night disturbances at Wal-Mart.
A narrow sound wall separates the rear of the store at Williamson Ranch Plaza from rows of houses in a subdivision.
Residents have groused about street sweepers, glaring overhead lights, wailing security alarms, even forklift races in the parking lot.
In addition, store employees began piling large, rectangular storage containers on the west side of the property to alleviate an overflow of seasonal inventory.
In November, city code enforcement officers counted 47 containers there. About 10 remain, with promises to the city to have them removed within 90 days.
The issue provoked Mayor Don Freitas to call a meeting earlier this year with Wal-Mart attorneys and managers to discuss the problems.
"We don't want this store looking like other Wal-Marts, which is why we're looking out for them," said Denise Skaggs, coordinator of Antioch's Neighborhood Improvement Services.
"Their location is the gateway coming into the community from the southwest area. It's a visible store. And we want it to maintain our high standards."
The store has been warned of code violations that restrict trucks from making deliveries between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. It also has been told of an ordinance that prohibits trailers "as living quarters except in a mobile home or a trailer park."
Skaggs said she will be checking on the store weekly to ensure the retailer is abiding by the rules of its use permit, which is expected to be reviewed again by the city Planning Commission.
City officials are trying to better understand how to manage a big-box retailer. It hasn't been easy.
"I felt like I had failed," Skaggs said of the city's early relationship with Wal-Mart. "But we've had no previous history to go on. This is a whole new ballgame. We're kind of shaping our own future."
posted by Corey at 3:41 PM
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