After losing a battle over a proposed expansion to its Lompoc store, Walmart is fighting back, arguing the project won’t negatively impact local businesses or cause downtown blight as city planners fear.
An update to the project’s Urban Decay Study, submitted to the Lompoc Planning Commission on Dec. 16, contends downtown Lompoc shows no signs of increased “urban decay” or store vacancies since April 2009, when The Natelson Dale Group performed the initial study.
Though the report acknowledges some downtown retail businesses are in need of repair and tagged with graffiti, the group said the indicators fell short of the benchmark of “significant deterioration.”
Walmart commissioned The Natelson Dale Group to prepare the study, and the Yorba Linda-based firm conducted its field survey on Dec. 8.
The study counters the decision made by the city’s planning commissioners, who on Oct. 13 denied certification of Walmart’s proposed 41,433 square-foot expansion to its location on Lompoc’s Central Avenue. At the time, planners Frank Hain, Nick Gonzales, and Kathleen Griffith criticized the project’s Environmental Impact Report as “inadequate,” based on concerns the document contained “dated” and “possibly factually inaccurate” information.
The commissioners pointed specifically to a section of the report regarding urban blight, which they said underreported the city’s retail vacancy rate.
Walmart is appealing the ruling, and according to company spokeswoman Amanda Neufeld, the latest study indicates the Planning Commission’s conclusions are “unfounded.”
“We are confident that our expansion project will be an economic benefit to Lompoc, by creating new jobs, both construction and retail, bring[ing] in additional tax revenue for the city and [increasing] local shopping opportunities for Lompoc area residents,” Neufeld told the Sun in an e-mail.
According to the study, in contrast to planners’ concerns, store vacancy rates in the Lompoc trade area decreased from 17.2 percent to 16.2 percent from December 2009 to December 2010.
The report also cites the termination of a lease by a Vons store on West Ocean Street as eliminating concerns for a worst-case scenario because of the expansion—the closure of one local grocery store. The study concludes no businesses in the downtown area would be negatively affected by the project.
The Lompoc City Council has scheduled an appeal hearing on the matter for Jan. 18.
This article appears in Dec 30, 2010 – Jan 6, 2011.
