WESTMINSTER : Plan for Market Goes Back to Commission

The City Council has decided to send back to the Planning Commission a proposal by a Vietnamese American businessman to open a supermarket on Brookhurst Street that would serve a predominantly Asian clientele.

Residents of nearby neighborhoods are against the idea, saying the market would generate noise, odor and traffic problems and lower the value of their properties.

In addition, they said, there are already three supermarkets in the area, and demand for ethnic food could be met by markets in Little Saigon less than two miles away.

After a 4-0 vote Tuesday, the council asked the Planning Commission to review site plan changes that the supermarket’s owner, Khoi Hyunh, has proposed to address the residents’ concerns for the proposed supermarket near McFadden Avenue. Mayor Charles V. Smith, who is attending a conference in Washington, was absent for the vote.

The changes include erecting an eight-foot wall as a buffer between the supermarket and nearby homes, placing trash storage inside the building to minimize odor and installing a loading dock farther away from residences.

In December, the Planning Commission denied Hyunh’s request for a use permit, saying the business would not be appropriate in the area because of the potential problems cited by the residents.

Some residents based their opposition on what they called the “flea market-like condition” of Vietnamese supermarkets on Bolsa Avenue.

Denise Lopez showed council members pictures of some supermarkets where food was being prepared outside the premises, piles of uncollected trash and ice used to preserve fish spilled on the street.

“The odor was horrendous,” said Lopez, who was among a dozen residents who attended Tuesday’s council meting.

But Dung Sam, who designed the proposed supermarket, said the site plan changes would minimize the effects on the neighborhood.

“If we eliminate the problems, I can’t see why the supermarket can’t open,” Sam said.