A Wal-Mart on the Crest View School Site ?

By Connie J. Boardman

The City and the Ocean View School District plan to replace the Crest View School site with at Wal-Mart. We will gain 12,000 additional car trips per day, small businesses in the city will lose customers and we all lose 9.8 acres of playing fields for our children. Plese click on the blue title above for more information.

Dear Editor:

I would like to point out why the Wal-Mart planned for the Crest View site is not for the greater good of the entire community as Bill Borden concludes. The entire City will lose if the Wal-Mart is built. First we will lose 9.8 acres of critically needed open space suitable for youth sports playing fields. How does the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) propose to mitigate this loss ? Mainly by making Lambert Park more accessible by building a ramp up its steep hillside from Newland. I examined an assessor1s map and determined the flat usable space at Lambert Park is about 1.5 acres. There are no restrooms at Lambert Park. Public parking consists of room for 7-8 cars on Newland Street with a 2 hour limit. We lose 9.8 acres and making 1.5 acres of existing open space more accessible is supposed to make up for this loss ?

Second, the entire community will be treated to more traffic. Over 10,000 additional car trips per day will be generated by the project. Third, since the planned auto center will face Talbert, community members who have loved ones buried at Good Shepherd Cemetery will be subjected to the sounds of lug nuts being removed from tires along with loudspeakers blaring out the latest sale, or alerting clerks to a price check. Any peace one hopes to find at the cemetery will be lost.

Fourth, large and small business in the city will be impacted. One of the objectives in the EIR is for this project to enhance small business on Beach Blvd. I had to chuckle when I read this, after all I think we are all aware of Wal-Mart1s reputation in this arena. When Wal-Mart comes to town small businesses tend to be forced out of business. Some of the sales at Wal-Mart will come at the expense of the Kmart and Target stores already in Huntington Beach so the some of the estimated sales tax gain may not be a gain at all but only people spending at a different store in the city than they do now.

These are only a few of the impacts to the entire community. Finally let1s put the gain to the City in perspective. Even if the prediction of an additional $400,000 in sales tax revenue per year is accurate that comes to less than two tenths of one percent of the City budget for 1998/99.

If the City Council approves the Wal-Mart it means they are willing to sacrifice the quality of life of an entire neighborhood and allow serious negative impacts to the entire community for about two tenths of one percent of the budget. I understand the need for more sales tax revenue, but the City and the Ocean View School District need to work with the community to develop a plan we all can live with and benefit from. I hope our City Council will take a hard look at the project and realize a neighborhood school site is not the right place for a Wal-Mart.

This letter was written after the meeting, and was sent to the Wave and the Huntington Beach Independent.

Dear Editor,

The planning commission meeting about Wal-Mart attended by well over 200 people was very interesting. I began to feel like I was Alice in Wonderland as I listened to the staff report and the planning commissioners1 questions to staff.

Let me explain why. First, the Crest View area has problems with flooding. What is the Wal-Mart solution to this? A retention basin. This seems very reasonable until you find out that the retention basin for the water is the parking lot. That is right-the parking lot. With straight faces staff informed us that the parking lot will be allowed to flood with one to two feet of water after a rain and then the water will be slowly released. At this point I started looking for the Cheshire Cat. I was so sure I had heard wrong that I talked with a planning commissioner the next day. He assured me I had this right. Who is going to shop at a store if they have to walk through a foot or two of water to get to it? No one.

Second, during his presentation Mr. Biggs our Director of Economic Development again stated the city can expect between $400,000 and $450,000 a year in sales tax revenue from the Wal-Mart. However, later under questioning from planning commissioners he admitted the city will be negotiating with Arnel Development and the School District to split some of the revenue with them. Why give the developer some of the sales tax money? To reimburse the company for the expense of mitigating the traffic impacts an additional 12,000 car trips per day will have on Talbert and surrounding streets.

Let me get this straight-the developer who will make lots of money on the project will be paid by the City with our sales tax dollars for putting in a traffic signal and other street improvements which are only needed because the developer is putting in the Wal-Mart. Who developed this idea? The Mad Hatter ?

It became clear that no one could predict how much sales tax revenue this project will bring to the city. Since the sales tax money is the main reason the city is considering the Wal-Mart at all, this gift of sales tax dollars to the developer and school district should have been stated up front.

Sincerely, Connie Boardman

Finally, here is a copy of the speech I gave to the Planning Commission during the public hearing about the proposed Wal-Mart at Crest View. Thank you for taking the time to read this information.

Good Evening Commissioners,

I am going to add to the points already made showing why the Wal-Mart planned for the Crest View site is not for good for the community.

I am going to focus on the costs to large and small business in the city . One of the objectives in the EIR is for this project to enhance small business on Beach Blvd. I laughed when I read this, after all I think we are all aware of the reputation of Wal-Mart in this arena. When Wal-Mart comes to town small businesses are forced out of business. Some of the sales at Wal-Mart will come at the expense of the Kmart and Target stores already in Huntington Beach so the some of the estimated sales tax gain may not be a gain at all but only people spending at a different store in the city than they do now.

This is not just a problem for Huntington Beach The news program 60 Minutes reported that in Iowa after 10 years of Wal-Marts in the State 1/2 of the boys and mens clothing stores went out of business and 1/3 of hardware and grocery stores closed. As Walter Loeg a Wall Street retail analyst has stated in the Philadelphia Inquirer 3 When Wal Mart is growing at 18-20 percent a year with the economy growing only about 3% a year somebody is giving up business.

What kinds of businesses already in town will lose business if a Wall-Mart moves in? Just south on Beach is Jiffy Lube, and Ghanal Lumber, Big O tires, and Allen Tires, Kregen Auto Parts, just north is a home appliance store, Blockbuster Video, Marshals, Bed and Bath stores, the list goes on and on.

The Wal-Mart may very well work against the plans of the City for the renovation of the Huntington Beach Mall. Edward Shil1s report actually uses the Huntington Beach mall as an example of how Wal-Mart could hurt not help stores in the Huntington Beach Mall. While his example assumes the Wal Mart is on the Huntington Beach center site, not a couple miles away he does mention that customers of shops in the mall will be drawn into the Wall-Mart and away from the shops at the mall.

The Shils report that you all have outlines Wal-Mart predatory pricing practices where Wal-Mart when it first comes into the community, offers prices well below those of its competition and then when the competition is gone raises prices above what could be found at the now out of business stores.

Finally let1s put the estimated gain in sales tax revenue to the City in perspective. Even if the prediction of an additional $400,000 in sales tax revenue per year is accurate that comes to under two tenths of one percent of the City1s budget for 1998/99. If you change the zoning to allow the Wal-Mart to be constructed you are telling the people of this city that the quality of life of an entire neighborhood is not worth two tenths of one percent of the City Budget. You are sending the message to the people of the city that you are willing to allow serious negative impacts to the entire community for less than two tenths of one percent of the budget. I understand the need for more sales tax revenue, but the City and the Ocean View School District need to work with the community to develop a plan we all can live with and benefit from. There are a lot of things you can buy at a Wal-Mart, but you can not buy quality of life there. And once they steal it from us we can not buy it back.