WESTMINSTER : Plans for Asian Market Rejected

After a three-month fight, residents have successfully blocked a proposal to open a supermarket selling ethnic food in their neighborhood near Brookhurst Street and McFadden Avenue.

The City Council last week denied a permit to two Vietnamese businessmen who sought to convert a former clothing store to an Asian supermarket at a shopping center on Brookhurst Street.

In voting unanimously, council members said that the supermarket is not appropriate at the location and that it will cause noise, traffic and trash collection problems.

“It’s been hard, it’s been long, but it was worth it,” said Denice Lopez, one of the residents who has fought the proposal since it was presented to the Planning Commission in December.

About 150 residents and business owners signed a petition objecting to the proposed market, which they said duplicates similar markets in Little Saigon, less than two miles away.

The owners of the proposed market, Khoi Huynh and Phuong Nguyen, had appealed to the council after the Planning Commission twice rejected their request for a use permit.

To accommodate neighbors’ objections, the owners proposed to increase to 10 feet the height of the block wall separating the proposed business from the neighborhood, place trash bins inside the building and move a loading dock farther away from nearby homes.

Larry Nguyen, who represented the owners at the council meeting, said the problems were exaggerated and could be avoided with the proposed changes.

But council members said the alterations were not adequate.

“I don’t think a supermarket is appropriate in that area,” Mayor Charles V. Smith said.