Wal-Mart may revamp Ventura plans

Ventura city officials confirmed this week that representatives from Wal-Mart have approached the city about changing its plans for a proposed store off Victoria Avenue.

Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart has not submitted any applications necessary to operate at the former site of Kmart, which closed in January. Previously the company expressed interest in demolishing the current building to build a Supercenter — which would include a large grocery section in addition to its regular discount merchandise — at the site, where it already holds a lease. Such a move would require Wal-Mart to seek a conditional use permit, conduct an environmental review and prove its plans would properly mesh with the city’s general plan and New Urbanist design principles.

Now it appears the company may be considering scaling down its plans. In recent phone conversations with the city, the company reportedly asked about the possibility of reusing the existing building and what would be required of it for the tenant improvement process. Such a move could mean the store would avoid a contentious environmental review and pursue only standard business permits, such as those needed for a new sign, repainting of the building’s exterior and a certificate of occupancy.

Nelson Hernandez, Ventura’s community development director, said Wal-Mart regularly sends consultants to discuss its options with city staff, but the company has yet to commit to any particular business plan in the city.

“The latest we hear is that they want to use the existing building, which may be permissible if they don’t do any structural alterations,” He said. “They haven’t come in and filed anything.”

Hernandez said the extent of any review of a Wal-Mart store could be determined by what type of permit the company decides to seek, but even a sign permit must go before the appointed design review committee. A more thorough review of such a store’s impact on the city would be conducted if the company renovates the building at all.

Despite the possibility of the scaled-back plan, a Wal-Mart official insisted the company continues to explore all its options.

“We are currently evaluating our operations to be able to serve our Ventura customers,” Wal-Mart Spokesman Aaron Rios said. “Everything that we’re working at just has to do with which ways we’d best be able to serve our Ventura County customers.”

Rios said Wal-Mart’s interest in opening a store in Ventura is to remain relevant to customers in the city who may not want to drive as far to other Wal-Mart locations. Currently, the closest Wal-Mart store is in Oxnard off of Rose Avenue, where the company also operates a location of its Sam’s Club warehouse store.

“Our primary priority is just to be able to serve our customers who are already shopping at our stores in the county and provide a local experience so that they can save money and live better,” Rios said.

Wal-Mart is not without its local opponents, however, and backers of a ballot initiative that if passed would restrict its opportunities to operate in Ventura say they are close to getting the measure on the ballot for the Nov. 4 election. The measure circulated by the Stop Wal-Mart Coalition wouldn’t actually single out the retailer, but it would prevent any store larger than 90,000 square feet from devoting more than 3 percent of its sales area to selling nontaxable merchandise. The coalition doesn’t think its efforts will be hampered by a shift in Wal-Mart’s plans.

Das Williams, an organizer of the Stop Wal-Mart Coalition and legislative analyst for the group Coastal Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy, said mid-level city staffers have told his group Wal-Mart is asking questions that might minimize the city’s discretion over a project. Even if Wal-Mart does seek simply to re-occupy the Kmart site without altering the building, the basic permits could take months to process.

“That gives us even more of a reason to get this qualified as soon as we can,” Williams said. “That being said, we don’t want to rush and submit our signatures before we are ready.”

The coalition is verifying each signature it has received before turning the measure over to county elections officials. Williams said he expects the verification to be finished sometime early this summer.

“The initiative will definitely qualify for the ballot before Wal-Mart moves in,” Williams said.

Even if Wal-Mart abandoned the possibility of constructing a new building, Williams said he doesn’t expect the initiative to be toothless because of the prohibition of non-taxable sales over a certain percentage.

“We’re also asking the city to make it clear to Wal-Mart if they do come in that this initiative might come in, and if it passes they would be required to change or move out after they’ve moved in,” Williams said.

City staff cannot specifically support or oppose a Wal-Mart store on the basis of its brand alone. Instead, Hernandez said, the municipality’s responsibility is to determine whether a property meets local ordinances and meshes with the city’s overall planning goals.

“We don’t want to see [the site] vacant,” Hernandez said. “That doesn’t serve anybody. The city doesn’t have a say whether it’s Wal-Mart or Kmart or Sportsmart. For us what we’re looking at is whether it’s a well-designed building with good urban design features. That’s our main focus.”

Ventura planning officials are in the midst of developing a vision for the Victoria Avenue corridor, and Wal-Mart would have to meet standards that are consistent with urban design ideals city leaders have adopted throughout town.

“We know Wal-Mart has the resources and the ability to pull it off,” Hernandez said. “We’re not going to settle for something that is second-rate if we have any say so over that. If they go with the existing building we’ll have to live with that. If they go with a new building they’ll have to go with a building that is consistent with our urban design and architecture.”