Hemet, CA. Council Comes Down on Wal-Mart

Council comes down on Wal-Mart [The Valley Chronicle (Calif.)]

Whether the condition of the former Wal-Mart site at Florida Avenue and Gilmore Street will improve was a question left unanswered during a sometimes contentious hearing before the Hemet City Council on Tues-day, but what was not left in doubt was the fate of the conditional use permit Wal-Mart took on the property in anticipation of converting it to a Sam’s Club.

In a 3-2 vote, the council denied the company’s request to extend the conditional use permit while the company seeks a buyer for the land.

During the discussion, several members of the council took San Bernardino attorney Alicen Clark Wong to task for the condition of the property.

“We have a public wondering what’s going on,” Councilwoman Robin Lowe told Wong. “It’s a vacant, unkempt building. I think it’s disrespectful to the people of this community.”

Wong acknowledged that Wal-Mart cut off utilities to the building and the surrounding parking lot after opening a Wal-Mart Supercenter at Sanderson and Stetson avenues.

The company indicated an interest in converting the building to a Sam’s Club, another Wal-Mart operation, but decided against it when the housing crunch brought the economic slowdown.

Councilman Brian Christie, who voted to extend the conditional use permit issued for the Sam’s Club project and against turning down the extension, asked Wong whether she could promise the city the company would provide maintenance and secure the building if the conditional use permit were extended.

“Could you commit to Sam’s Club keeping the building as less than an eyesore?” he asked Wong.

She said the company would send a water truck around to irrigate the landscaping, but would not replace the landscaping, much of which is in poor condition.

She also said the company provides around-the-clock security, but Councilman Eric McBride said the building has nonetheless become a haven for the homeless and that recyclable metal from inside has been stolen.

Wong also pledged the company would respond to city complaints about the condition of the property.

McBride shot back, “It is not our responsibility to monitor your property. It is a waste of city resources.”

The city’s police, planning, and code enforcement departments have spent considerable time on the property already, he said.

“We bent over backward to move that project forward,” Lowe said. “It has been a waste of our staff time.”

She said the company obviously knew the landscaping would die after the water was cut off if it was now willing to send in a water truck for irrigation.

City Attorney Eric Vail said that nothing Wong promised on behalf of the company would be enforceable if the council extended the conditional use permit - or if it did not. Since the company is not required by the conditional use permit to maintain the property, that cannot be added now.

Wong argued that extending the conditional use permit would benefit not only Wal-Mart but a buyer if one were found. Extending the permit would allow another company to avoid a substantial part of the planning process, as could Wal-Mart if it ever decides to open a Sam’s Club after all. She did not indicate a sale is imminent.

Councilwoman Lori VanArs-dale also voted to extend the conditional use permit and against denying the extension. She said the extension would benefit everybody, including the city.

Said Lowe: “They have not kept their part of the deal from the beginning.”

The result, she said, has been bad for residents of a housing development behind the property, who must look at the deteriorating building and lot and to nearby businesses, which suffer by their proximity to the former Wal-Mart.