GARDEN GROVE : Court Action Sought for Removal of Wall

Council members voted this week to go to court in an effort to tear down a masonry wall that cuts off access between two shopping centers. The seven-foot-high structure runs the length of about two football fields.

The tan-colored wall prevents shoppers at the newly opened Smith’s Food and Drug Center from getting across a parking lot to the neighboring Mervyn’s Department Store, either by foot or by vehicle.

The council, acting as the Agency for Community Development, decided Tuesday that acquisition of the public easement and razing of the wall constitute a public necessity and justify eminent-domain proceedings.

Only Councilman Robert F. Dinsen voted against the action, saying he favors the wall being removed but does not believe its removal constitutes a public necessity.

City officials said the wall requires patrons to drive out onto busy Harbor Boulevard if they wish to go from one of the commercial centers to the other. Motorists traveling south on Harbor have to cross three northbound lanes to get to the centers. There is a traffic signal at Smith’s but none at Mervyn’s.

About 50,000 vehicles travel on Harbor Boulevard past the two stores each day, city officials said.

Tra-Tel Centers, which owns the 9.15-acre shopping center where Smith’s is located, will pay for the purchase of the easement on which the wall is built and all court costs, city officials said.

Joe Lacko, general partner for Tra-Tel Centers, told the Agency for Community Development this week that two major businesses have verbally agreed to become tenants in a vacant building at the center where Smith’s is, with the provision that the wall come down.

Mervyn’s and SBD Group Inc. of Santa Ana share ownership of the easement and the wall.

Lacko said Mervyn’s officials were willing to negotiate. It is SBD Group that has stalled negotiations over the wall and forced eminent-domain proceedings, he said.

But SBD Group Vice President James L. Hirsen contended Wednesday that it is Tra-Tel that has been holding up the process. Hirsen said the city’s eminent-domain action is “ridiculous” and predicted that the dispute will be solved without resorting to court action.

City officials said the value of the easement where the wall is located has been assessed at $97,000. The wall was built about 10 years ago to separate the Mervyn’s store from a group of mobile homes and travel trailers that had settled in the area at the time, officials said.

The city’s Agency for Community Development reached agreement with Tra-Tel on July 1 for the redevelopment of the shopping center. Smith’s Food and Drug Center opened this month.