{"id":26760,"date":"2012-12-12T12:33:34","date_gmt":"2012-12-12T20:33:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.57.196.122\/~gdatwofo\/theavtimes\/?p=26760"},"modified":"2013-01-09T09:20:57","modified_gmt":"2013-01-09T17:20:57","slug":"council-approves-quartz-hill-walmart-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2012\/12\/12\/council-approves-quartz-hill-walmart-project\/","title":{"rendered":"Council approves Quartz Hill Walmart project"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Several Walmart employees attended Tuesday’s council meeting and flashed signs in support of developing a Walmart Supercenter on 40 acres of property on 60th Street West and Avenue L.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LANCASTER \u2013 After more than four hours of citizens\u2019 comments Tuesday night (Dec. 11), the Lancaster City Council unanimously approved plans for a Walmart Supercenter across the street from Quartz Hill High School.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere isn\u2019t any doubt in my mind that for the overall well-being of this city this project has to be in Lancaster,\u201d said Lancaster Mayor R. Rex.<\/p>\n

The council voted after more than 50 residents testified both for and against the development of a 344,752 square-foot commercial shopping center, that would a include Walmart Supercenter, at 60th Street West and Avenue L.<\/p>\n

Several Walmart employees came to the council meeting with signs expressing support for the project. Many of them stressed the new jobs the project would provide and touted the benefits of working at Walmart.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have medical, dental, vision, 401(k) and stock [options],\u201d testified Isabel Allen, who said she had worked at Walmart for more than 12 years. \u201cI don\u2019t have to commute to make the kind of money I\u2019m making.\u201d<\/p>\n

Local business leaders also voiced support for the project.<\/p>\n

\u201cI represent the Antelope Valley Black Chamber of Commerce and we are in support of the Walmart project because we\u2019re looking at the bigger picture,\u201d said Perry Watkins. \u201cThe increase in sales tax to the city, the increase in jobs for the city; because even though they\u2019re not good paying jobs, they are jobs for people that don\u2019t have one now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re here to advocate for job growth in the Antelope Valley,\u201d said Antelope Valley Board of Trade President Drew Mercy.<\/p>\n

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Opponents outnumbered the supporters at the council meeting.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But opponents outnumbered the supporters Tuesday night. Many said they objected to the project because it was across the street from Quartz Hill High School.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not opposed to the project, I\u2019m opposed to the location of the project \u00a0and the reason is safety,\u201d said Palmdale Communications Manager John Mylnar, who said he was speaking as a resident of Quartz Hill and as a parent of a Quartz Hill High School student. Mylnar said traffic congestion in the area posed a danger to students, and said he even witnessed a girl struck by a car last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do know that bringing more traffic to the area will increase the risk of those dangers to our students,\u201d Mylnar said. \u201cThat\u2019s just going to be a consequence of the project being at that location.”<\/p>\n

Other Quartz Hill residents said they opposed the project because it would negatively impact their quality of life, it would bankrupt local small businesses, and it could cause crime to increase in the area.<\/p>\n

Several speakers who opposed the project were from Quartz Hill Cares (QHC), a grassroots community group formed in opposition to the Walmart project when it first went before the council three years ago. (Read more here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

In 2009, the Lancaster City Council voted to certify a final environmental impact report (EIR) and approved all related actions to move to project forward.<\/p>\n

About 30 days later, QHC challenged the adequacy of the EIR in court. The group lost in Los Angeles Superior Court, but scored a victory this year when California\u2019s 2nd District Court of Appeals overturned the Superior Court\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n

Walmart officials said the appellate court\u2019s decision was based on one correctable aspect of the massive EIR.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat the court specifically decided is that the city failed to provide sufficient evidence to support its conclusion that the reduced commercial density alternative was not economically viable,\u201d Walmart representative Jennifer Guenther said Tuesday night. \u201cEssentially what that means is that the court found that they just wanted more evidence to make the finding that that particular alternative wasn\u2019t feasible.\u201d<\/p>\n

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City officials set up a viewing room in the lobby to accommodate the overflow of residents that crammed the council chambers Tuesday.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

City officials presented that evidence in the form of an addendum to the EIR Tuesday night. They said no other changes had been made since the project was first approved in 2009; and since all other aspects of the project had already been approved by both the council and the courts, the council needed only to consider the addendum to the EIR.<\/p>\n

QHC co-founder, Loretta Berry, presented a letter from the group\u2019s attorney opposing the addendum to the EIR.<\/p>\n

City attorney, Allison Burns, said the letter contained \u201ca great deal of hyperbole and name calling\u201d but lacked substance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is nothing in this letter that would stop the city council from proceeding tonight on the matter,\u201d Burns said.<\/p>\n

Just before midnight, the council voted 4-0, with Ron Smith absent, to certify the final EIR with the addendum, to approve a conditional use permit, to approve a tentative parcel map to create eight parcels on the project site ranging in size from 0.68 acres to 19.99 acres in the commercial planned development zone.<\/p>\n

After the vote, Berry said QHC will continue its efforts to block the Quartz Hill Walmart project.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to challenge them [in court] on a couple of issues concerning what\u2019s actually in the addendum and on whether certain procedures were followed,\u201d Berry said. \u201cIt is safe to say we are not giving up.\u201d<\/p>\n

UPDATED 1\/9\/2013<\/span>: The Lancaster City Council gave final approval to the Quartz Hill Walmart project at a council meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2013. The council unanimously adopted Ordinance No. 984<\/span>, an ordinance amending the City Zoning Plan for 40\u00b1 acres located at the northwest corner of Avenue L and 60th Street West, known as Zone Change No. 06-04. Read the ordinance here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LANCASTER \u2013 After more than four hours of citizens\u2019 comments Tuesday night (Dec. 11), the Lancaster City Council unanimously approved plans for a Walmart Supercenter across the street from Quartz Hill High School. \u201cThere isn\u2019t any doubt in my mind that for the overall well-being of this city this project has to be in Lancaster,\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":26761,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16,10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26760"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26760\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}