Clovis plan for Winco challenged
A grocery store in Fresno is suing the city of Clovis for approving plans that allow construction of a Winco supermarket more than three miles away, claiming the proposed store will siphon off customers.
The owners of Food 4 Less at Chestnut and Shepherd avenues in Fresno contend they will lose a significant amount of business if the Winco is built at Peach and Herndon avenues.
Six individuals also are named as plaintiffs, including at least one Food 4 Less employee. The lawsuit was filed last week.
Clovis has approved plans for the Winco as the largest piece of a 116,000-square-foot shopping center at Peach and Herndon.
Lawyers representing Food 4 Less are with the same firm representing a community group opposed to a planned shopping center at Highway 168 and Herndon Avenue that includes the Wal-Mart Supercenter.
The lawsuit says the city erred by not conducting a public hearing and an environmental study for the Winco project.
City officials say that because the supermarket was approved earlier in a larger project — the Target shopping center at Willow and Herndon avenues — only a staff review was needed.
City Attorney David Wolfe said the city’s approval of the project without a public hearing was legal.
Lawyer Brett Jolley, representing the Winco opponents, said the Winco project is not consistent with the city’s General Plan and does not meet the city’s zoning guidelines for the site, which is supposed to include homes.
The city must do an environmental review, including a “blight study,” Jolley said, because the Winco project could cause more retail vacancies, based on the city’s economic study for the Wal-Mart Supercenter project.
But City Planner Dwight Kroll said that Winco is part of a larger project area that still includes a proposal for homes north of Spruce Avenue on the west side of Peach Avenue.
The city prepared an environmental review for the entire complex that includes Target, Best Buy and PetSmart as well as Winco, Kroll said.
A study done for the Wal-Mart project, which included the proposed Winco supermarket, said the Winco would not result in higher vacancy rates, he said.
A judge last year found the city should not have certified an environmental report for the Wal-Mart Supercenter project because the document did not adequately address water needs and did not examine the potential for lost business by merchants beyond the Clovis city limits.
The City Council “decertified” the environmental report, and consultants were told to rewrite sections.
Two weeks ago, the council certified the revised environmental report.
A judge still needs to approve it before the project can move forward.
By Marc Benjamin / The Fresno Bee
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6 Responses to Clovis plan for Winco challenged
I don’t think that the city of Clovis should allow for anymore new business construction when there are so many vacant business buildings around / on Shaw avenue.
Eileen– Where did you come up with that moronic idea? Are you kidding me? You are lucky to have a well run company like Winco willing to bring jobs to your community.
As a shopper, more competition helps all of us. We already shop at Winco and love their prices and choices. Food4Less can take a lesson from them, we also shop at their Fresno and Selma stores. Since when is competition the subject of a lawsuit?
Eileen:
Do you people really want the government to control private industry and the free market? They can’t even manage themselves.
How would you like it if they told you that you couldn’t build a house on your own property because there were too many homes already in Clovis?
Competition is healthy. Like Winco or not, don’t let the government take control. If Savemart or Gongco’s Food For Less want to compete, they should lower their prices, not spend their customer’s money on lawsuits.
come one now…what is wrong with competition, my neighbors are so looking forward for a Winco closer to us…………go Winco we love your prices!!!!
There is only so much market share….when there are too many competitors in the market..someone loses. It is usually the smaller stores that can’t compete with large box stores such as Winco and SuperWalmarts. We must make sure that stores such as these do not squeeze out the smaller stores in our town. Smaller companies cannot compete with the buying power of these large corporate stores. The Winco and Walmarts stores are also non-union and offer fewer benefits and protection to their employees…another thing to consider! Without these basic rights for workers…we will have just another right to work state….enough good paying jobs have been lost already! Two more stores in our valley will be closing in a few short weeks because of the Super Walmarts have have come to their towns…now there is no competition in those towns…only Super Walmart to shop at. Not just the grocery stores are affected when this happens…but the pharmacies, the tire/oil changing shops, clothing stores in town and many others that just can’t compete with stores of this type. Many more businesses will close because of these big box stores…time to consider the consequences BEFORE they are built!!