Wal-Mart Maneuver Draws Suit

Two community groups filed suit Thursday to stop an Inglewood ballot initiative that would allow Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to build a new store without City Council oversight.

The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court by the Coalition for a Better Inglewood and the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, claims it’s a violation of state law for the retailer to try to get its project approved by circumventing elected officials and going right to voters.

“Even if the voters of Inglewood wish to allow Wal-Mart to develop a Supercenter in Inglewood, they cannot,” said Jan Chatten-Brown, the community groups’ lawyer. “The remedy for them is to go to the City Council and tell them they want the City Council to process and approve a Wal-Mart development in Inglewood.”

Neither Inglewood city officials nor a Wal-Mart spokesman would comment, saying they had not yet seen the lawsuit.

Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart last year convinced Inglewood officials to withdraw on procedural grounds an ordinance that would have blocked the company from building one of its combination grocery and discount stores.

It has embarked on a major expansion into the grocery business in California, triggering stiff opposition from organized labor and others.

To prevent the council from trying again to block Wal-Mart’s plans, a pro-Wal-Mart group gathered enough signatures to qualify the initiative, which calls for building permits for the proposed store adjacent to Hollywood Park to be issued without a public hearing or environmental impact study.

Approval of the initiative, scheduled for a special election April 6, requires only a simple majority of voters. If approved, the measure requires a two-thirds vote to repeal or amend it.

The retailer has said that it planned to build 40 Supercenters in California.

The proposed development includes a regular Wal-Mart discount store. Although the company has said it has no plans for one of its Supercenters in Inglewood, Wal-Mart says it needs the flexibility to expand to that format in the future.