MOORPARK : Compromise OKd on Grocery Store Plan

Looking for middle ground between angry residents and a developer, the Moorpark City Council approved a plan to build a Lucky grocery store in the city, but limited the store’s size.

The City Council heard from dozens of residents who packed Wednesday night’s meeting to protest the plans to build the store on an undeveloped 12-acre parcel off of Tierra Rejada Road near Moorpark High School.

The residents expressed concern that a grocery store would bring unwanted noise and traffic to their neighborhoods.

Although more than 300 people signed a petition opposing the store, council members pointed out that a store has been planned for the site for more than a decade.

That meant the City Council did not have the authority to decide whether a store would be built, only whether the developer could modify the existing permit and build a bigger store, Mayor Paul Lawrason said.

The developer--American Stores--wanted to increase the size of the grocery store planned for the site from 43,000 square feet to more than 60,000 square feet. The firm also offered to reduce the total size of the shopping center complex, which would include a Sav-On Drugs store and other shops.

Opponents of the plan said the larger store would become a magnet for shoppers from outside the neighborhood and increase traffic and noise.

The council seemed to agree, but allowed for a slight increase on the store’s original size--to 50,000 square feet.

“I feel pretty good about our decision,” Lawrason said. “It’s one of those decisions that pleases no one, but I think it’s fair.”

Dorian Fortney, a representative from American Stores, said before the meeting that he was not sure if the company could build a competitive grocery store at a smaller size.

Changing the size would only mean that the Lucky store could not provide other amenities, such as a flower shop or coffee shop, Fortney said. He did not comment after the vote.

But Councilman Bernardo Perez said the company bought the property only with the assurance that it could build a 43,000-square-foot store and that the council was under no obligations to make accommodations beyond that.