SANTA PAULA : Groves Cleared to Make Way for Stores

Bulldozers have cleared citrus groves on the west side of Santa Paula to make way for a development that is expected to bring $10 million in retail sales into the city.

The groves were cleared from 12 acres in the western portion of town bordering California 126, where a new K mart deparment store will be built, said Joan Kus, the city’s planning director.

In addition to the K mart, the project includes two smaller retail stores. Contractor Design Build Associates of Westlake Village has not yet received permits to build, but has received a permit to begin grading.

The store is part of a large commercial development to be built on the city’s west side, an area occupied by farms and a few houses.

A recent campaign to slow development on the west side has succeeded in generating support for preserving the orchards around the rural community, but the K mart project was approved three years ago, Kus said.

Kus said the project was approved in hopes that the department store would generate retail sales. “We would like to have people spend money here rather than in other places,” she said.

A report last year by a consultant said Santa Paula’s lack of large shopping malls is forcing shoppers to go elsewhere.

More than $76 million in retail sales is lost to stores in neighboring communities, it said. It also suggested that the city support new commercial development to keep shoppers in town.