FOCUS: ORANGE COUNTY COMMUNITY NEWS : HUNTINGTON BEACH

Wal-Mart opponents learned this week that the retailer won’t go down without a fight.

At a City Council workshop Monday, City Atty. Gail Hutton announced that company officials plan to file a lawsuit against Crest View United, a resident group that opposes Wal-Mart’s proposal to build on Talbert Avenue.

The suit will challenge the validity of a ballot petition to rezone the commercial area back to residential, she said.

But even if opponents prevail with an initiative the company’s critics may not be able to stop the store’s construction, Deputy City Atty. Paul D’Alessandro said.

Wal-Mart may still be grandfathered in because its right to build could “vest” by then, D’Alessandro said. To determine “vesting,” a court must decide whether the retailer has “substantially relied” on the prospect of receiving a building permit, he said.