2A Public Hearing 2007 0709 - Laserfiche WebLink

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May 1, 2007 Peter Blied Red Mountain Retail Group 1234 E. 17th Street Santa Ana, CA 92701 RE: Grocery Outlet Proposed Neighborhood Grocery Store at 1550 E. 14th Street, San Leandro Dear Mr. Blied: I am the Zoning Enforcement Official for the City of San Leandro ("City"). Your letter of April 24, 2007, has been forwarded to my attention for consideration pursuant to Section 1-306 of the San Leandro Zoning Code. On March 19, 2007, Grocery Outlet sent a letter to Debbie Pollart, Planning Manager, requesting that the City determine that the interim urgency ordinance, adopted on September 5, 2006 and extended by the San Leandro City Council on November 6,2006 ("moratorium"), does not apply to Grocery Outlet's proposed operation of a grocery store at 1550 E. 14th Street. After reviewing your letter and supporting documents, Debbie Pollart advised that the City was unable to grant your request as staff had determined that the terms of the moratorium do apply to Grocery Outlet. Grocery Outlet has proposed locating a 25,620 square foot store at 1550 E. 14th Street ("Project"), which is located in the City's Commercial Downtown District ("CD"). Grocery Outlet contends that the Project is small vis-a-vis the current industry standard for supermarkets and is therefore more akin to a neighborhood grocery store than a supermarket. To this end, Grocery Outlet reasons that the Project is not subject to the moratorium because it falls within the category of "Neighborhood/specialty food markets" which is a permitted use in the CD District and does not require any planning entitlements. Notwithstanding Grocery Outlet's contention that the proposed Project is small vis-a-vis current industry standards for supermarkets, Grocery Outlet's product mix is more akin to that of a supermarket than a neighborhood grocery store. Moreover, the City has consistently treated stores similar in size to the Project as supermarkets, rather than neighborhood grocery stores. For instance, a recent application for the establishment of a 7,900 square foot grocery store located at 14340 E. 14th Street was considered a supermarket and subjected to Administrative Review by the Zoning Enforcement Official (pursuant to San Leandro Zoning Code Section 2-628, supermarkets in the South Area-1 district are subject to Administrative Review).