Neighbor’s reject Wal-Mart’s wall

Kenneth Ma

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- Wal-Mart has hit a road block with neighborhood

residents in its attempt to construct a common wall to separate the

construction site of its future retail store from nearby homes.

As one of the nearly 175 conditions placed on Wal-Mart in its quest to

build a 135,000-square-foot megastore, the retail giant is required to

erect an 8-foot-high perimeter wall to protect nearby homes from noise

and light during construction.

The wall would replace an aging chain-link fence that separates a

portion of the 14-acre former Crest View School on Talbert Avenue near

Beach Boulevard adjacent to the backyards of family homes.

To meet the wall requirement, Costa Mesa developer Arnel Retail Group

sent a letter to 22 residents on Sterling Avenue, Lisa Lane and other

nearby streets seeking permission from neighbors to demolish their

existing walls to build one common wall.

The letter also asked residents to sign a liability waiver so the

company would not be responsible for property damage during the process

of removing the walls.

Neighbors were given three weeks to respond to the letter. To build

the common wall, Arnel needs unanimous approval from all of the 22

residents.

However, only five of the residents responded favorably to the letter,

said Tom Love, Arnel’s vice president.

Love said another wall will be built no more than 2 inches from

Wal-Mart’s property line to satisfy the requirements.

No date has been set for the wall’s construction, he said.

Neighbors gave a variety of reasons for their refusal to cooperate

with the megastore.

“I feel that Wal-Mart has to follow a precedent and put a fence on

their side of the property,” said Bob Allen, a resident on Sterling

Avenue “I should not be bothered with letters that outline what is legal

and what is not. They want the chocolate cake [the common wall] but there

are some people who don’t care to eat it.”

Allen said he supports the future Wal-Mart store as long as it does

not encroach on his property.Esther Malane, another resident on Sterling,

said she is against both the wall and the megastore.

“They don’t want to be responsible for anything that happens to our

property -- dogs, children or anything else in our backyards -- during

the construction,” she said.

Jane James, an associate city planner, said the common wall was

required to eliminate the possibility of having gaps between two walls.

She said gaps attract trash, debris, vagrants and the homeless.

As another condition, Wal-Mart is required to offer some nearby

homeowners double-paned glass windows for noise protection.

Cynthia Lin, a spokeswoman for Wal-Mart, said the company plans to

complete its Huntington Beach store by the spring.

All outstanding city permits are considered to be minor procedural

matters, she said.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s proposal to build the store on the vacant

school grounds ignited tense divisions within the city.

Earlier this year, opponents tried unsuccessfully to block the project

with a ballot measure that would have rezoned the former campus for

residential development -- a move that would have derailed Wal-Mart’s

plan to build the store.

In March, voters rejected the measure by a slim margin.