COM 0032.035 2006-2008 - Laserfiche WebLink

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The Council resolution contains a number of asserted reasons for the proposed superstore ban: "traffic congestion, overburdening of existing infrastructure, deterioration of fragile ecosystems, and decimation of small businesses." In response to a request from the Planning Department to provide supporting information, the councilmember provided same items, mainly an article about big box development in general, attached as Exhibit B, some news articles about mainland cities such as San Diego that have banned superstores, and considerable information about Turlock, California. The city of Turlock enacted a ban, primarily based on the analysis that they wanted to protect neighborhood shopping centers which were centrally located in the town, and believed that they might fail if they lost the "anchor" grocery tenant. The superstore, on the other hand, would, according to the analysis, be located along the state highway, and draw tralisc to that location, away from the town center. Recently, the DHHL announced that Wal-Mart was the only bidder for a large DHHL site located on Maka'ala Street in Hilo, behind the current Wal-Mart. The lease terms are still being negotiated. Wal-Mart announced that it planned to open a "Supercenter" on the site, consisting of about 200,000 squaze feet of retail space. (The current Hilo Wal-Mart occupies about 140,000 square feet of gross retail space) This "Supercenter" would have enough grocery space to fall under the definition of "superstore" in the proposed ordinance. Wal-Mart was indefinite about the fate of the existing store. The Maka'ala Street DHHL site is caned ML (Limited Industrial), and is designated High Density Urban in the General Plan. Under the County's Memorandum of Agreemem (MOA) with DHHL attached as Exhibit C, the County agreed with DHHL's position that it can decide the use of its lands without following County zoning. DHHL is supposed to have a planning process, however, and conform to their overall land use plan. While it is cleaz as a legal matter that DHHL residential, pastoral, and agricultural leases are exempt from County zoning, the question of commercial and industrial uses on DHHL property is not entirely free from doubt. The County believed, based on several corporation counsel opinions, that the MOA conformed to legal requiremems, largely -3-