2A Public Hearing 2007 0709 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Marian Handa, City Clerk June 12,2007 Page 2 We believe the Moratorium, by its own terms, exempts the proposed Grocery Outlet, and therefore does not prohibit the City from issuing to Grocery Outlet the building permits to undertake the tenant improvements necessary to commence operation of its proposed neighborhood grocery store. We previously met with the City to discuss this issue. Pursuant to the City's direction, we provided the attached information in support of Grocery Outlet's position. In so doing, Grocery Outlet requested that the City determine that the terms of the Moratorium do not apply to Grocery Outlet's project to undertake the tenant improvements and commence operations on the Propertyl . Section 2.A of the Moratorium states that: "The moratorium will not preclude the issuance of business licenses or building permits for projects. . . for which planning entitlement is not required." As you know, the Property is located in the City's Commercial Downtown or "CD" District. Section 2-608 of the City of San Leandro zoning code provides the land use regulations for the CD District. Subsection (A) of section 2-608 states: "The following uses are allowed in the CD District, and a conditional use permit is not required." Included in that list of permitted uses is "neighborhood/specialty food markets." (San Leandro Zoning Code sec. 2-608(A)(16).) San Leandro Zoning Code sec. 1-304 contains the definitions applicable to the zoning code. "Neighborhood/specialty food markets" is defmed as "neighborhood grocery stores, and stores specializing in particular or distinctive food items, including but not limited to retailers whose primary business maintains a wide inventory of gourmet, health, or ethnic food items not commonly found in area Supermarkets or Convenience Stores. . . ." It is beyond question that Grocery Outlet is proposing a "neighborhood grocery store" and not a "supermarket" at the old Albertsons site. The store is small size (25,000 sq. ft.) vis-a- vis the current industry standard for supermarkets (70,000 square feet). Moreover, Grocery Outlet is only proposing a store whose vast majority of business will come from the surrounding residential area located within an approximately 2-mile radius of the site, making such a use consistent with the General Plan. Grocery Outlet previously provided to the City a market capture study MapInfo Corporation2 prepared for the proposed store. MapInfo prepared a market study for the proposed site in 2006 using the 2000 census data, updated by the MapInfo demographics and data collected by Map Info for its analysis of the proposed use at the specific location. That study analyzes the origin of the proposed store's market area (called "trade area" in the study). As can be seen from that study, over 90% of the stores customers will come from within the market area located within 2.0 miles of the Property. The store will serve the needs Weare awaiting the city decision before commencing the tenant improvement building plans given the substantial cost of plan preparation. We will prepare the necessary plans as soon as we hear from the City. 2 Map Info Corporation is a division of Pitney Bowes and a leader in site selection science for the business community. Map Info regularly prepares market analyses and capture studies based on proposed sites. 2