Study Dashes Hopes of a Retail Surge in Walnut

A consultants’ report has found that this city is locked in a retailing dilemma:

Residents shop out of town because that’s where the big stores are.

But despite the City Council’s desire to counter that trend, businesses are reluctant to move in because their stores wouldn’t be seen from the Pomona (60) Freeway, which swings past the City of Industry south of here, and the Orange (57) Freeway that cuts through Pomona to the east.

The report’s findings, while not unexpected, were discouraging for city officials who had hoped to offset projected budget deficits by luring new businesses to the bedroom community.

“We’re all disappointed,” City Manager Linda Holmes said. “Sales tax is not going to answer all our revenue needs of the future.”

The City Council, which received the report Tuesday, commissioned the $27,100 study by the Newport Beach-based firm Agajanian & Associates in November. It requested the study because, for the first time in the city’s 31-year history, officials anticipate budget deficits, starting in fiscal year 1991-92, Holmes said.

Since the study found only limited prospects for additional businesses, the city will probably have to trim the budget, possibly by cutting back on park and street maintenance, Holmes said.

Although there is the potential for developing 1.4 million square feet of commercial space in Walnut on 12 vacant sites, less than one-third of that will be needed because businesses are reluctant to relocate there, and because residents are used to shopping elsewhere, the report said.

It said the same is likely to hold true even when the city reaches its maximum population of 30,800, expected by 1994. By then, residents will be spending an estimated $161,932,000 a year outside the city, it said. Now, with a population of 27,000, Walnut residents spend $141,871,000 annually at outside businesses.

“People are going to the Puente Hills Mall, to West Covina and Brea,” Holmes said. “We can’t pull in some of the large businesses. . . . They want freeway access, and we’ll never be able to provide that.”

Still, the report had some suggestions on how the city could reap greater sales tax revenues in the future. To best serve the ethnically diverse, family-oriented population, it should encourage retail development instead of auto dealers and suppliers and office space, the report said.

It added that high-quality Asian grocery stores and restaurants would probably do well in Walnut, which has a burgeoning Chinese community but lacks a large commercial center to meet its needs.

The areas with the most potential, according to the report, are two sites at the intersection of Grand Avenue and Valley Boulevard. An extension of Grand Avenue, linking Walnut, Industry and Diamond Bar, is scheduled to open in 1991.

Walnut is one of the fastest growing communities in Los Angeles County, along with neighboring Diamond Bar and the northern county cities of Lancaster and Palmdale. But growth is seen primarily in the rows and clusters of tract homes that cover the hillsides; 95.3% of land in Walnut is zoned for residential uses.

Commercial land accounts for only 2.5%, or 140 acres, of the city. Businesses include two grocery stores, several small commercial strips and a handful of fast-food outlets.

Mayor Bertha (Bert) Ashley said she wasn’t surprised by the report’s findings.

“A previous consultant gave us 17 reasons why Walnut is not situated in the perfect place,” she said. “The budget this year is going to be lean and mean.”