Wal-Mart’s Plan for Huntington Stirs Lengthy Public Debate

When neighbors along Lisa Lane and Sterling Avenue in Huntington Beach look at the fields around the vacant Crest View School, they see parkland.

But city officials see it as the future site of a Wal-Mart that could generate more than $400,000 a year in sales-tax revenue and create hundreds of jobs.

Those contrasting visions drew more than 200 people to Monday’s City Council meeting, many to protest not only the potential loss of open space but the noise and traffic that the 130,000-square-foot discount store would bring.

“This is not a development, this is insanity,” said Ellen Kleizo, a resident of Lisa Lane, told council members. “This is not appropriate. You would not want this in your neighborhood. We may not be able to put another school in there, but we don’t have to put a Wal-Mart there.”

In October, the Planning Commission sided with homeowners, saying the need for open space on one of the last undeveloped parcels in the city is paramount. But Wal-Mart, a local developer and officials of Ocean View School District, which owns the site, took the issue to the City Council.

“We have, for quite some time, wanted to have a store in this community,” Mike Gardner, a real estate director for Wal-Mart, told the council Monday. “We know it’s a very difficult decision confronting you. We understand the project has a potential for some negative impact. We’re sorry that’s the choice you have to make.”

City Council members listened to dozens of speakers on both sides of the issue in a public-comment session that continued late into the night.

The battle in Huntington Beach is not the first for Arkansas-based Wal-Mart. The discount giant’s expansion plans have drawn protests in communities across the nation from residents who want to maintain a neighborhood atmosphere and do not want to see small merchants pushed out by the large retailer.

What is unusual in Huntington Beach is that the property is in an already bustling area. It is adjacent to busy Beach Boulevard, one of the city’s main business thoroughfares.

The elementary school in the center of the property was closed in 1992 because of declining enrollment. Costa Mesa-based Arnel Retail Group has proposed to develop the property. Ocean View officials say that leasing the site to Wal-Mart could bring them $400,000 a year in much-needed money for repairs and maintenance at other campuses.

Pam Walker, president of the Ocean View school board, said, “The lease money from this site will open up our general-fund money for educational programs. We’re also residents of this city, and we’re concerned about the quality of life. Don’t pass up an opportunity to address the needs of the whole city.”

But homeowners in nearby neighborhoods say they would pay a high price for that revenue.

“This is just a little-bitty piece to Wal-Mart,” resident Sheila Cools told the council. “But to us this is all we have.”