The battle for Gelson’s is heating up.
On Aug. 19, the Manhattan Beach Chamber of Commerce endorsed the proposal to open a Gelson’s supermarket in the empty lot on Sepulveda in between 6th and 8th streets.
“Following a thorough vetting process, the Manhattan Beach Chamber of Commerce, representing more than 450 members and 29,000 employees in the South Bay, has formally endorsed the Gelson’s project located at the former vacant car dealership/collision center site on Sepulveda Boulevard at 8th Street in Manhattan Beach,” the chamber said in a press release.
The announcement comes amid a vocal campaign against the project by residents who live near the site, many of whom have planted “Stop Gelson’s” signs in their yards and who plan to address the topic at a Manhattan Beach Residents Association meeting later this month.
Chamber President James O’Callaghan said the board of directors met with the developer, Paragon Commercial Group, and Gelson’s, and the project “fit the board’s direction for the city.”
Residents spend $29 million per year in grocery sales outside of the city, according to a study by a commercial real estate group commissioned by the chamber.
“Any time you force people to do shopping outside of the city, there are other ancillary sales you lose as well,” he said.
Contradicting the opposition’s charge that the store would diminish residents’ quality of life by increasing traffic and parking problems in the neighborhood, he said the store would improve their quality of life by allowing them to drive less to get groceries.
“We’re not even meeting the demands of residents” with the stores currently available, he said.
Opponents have said the project would make an already dangerous part of Sepulveda more dangerous. There have been two fatal accidents resulting in three deaths at the intersection of Sepulveda and 6th Street in the last five years, according to Manhattan Beach Police Department Community Affairs Officer Stephanie Martin.
Further, the developer’s original proposal would ask the city to not require it to have as many parking spaces as normally required.
When asked about these concerns, O’Callaghan said the “proposal hasn’t even been vetted by the city.”
“The concept of a grocery store here in town makes perfect sense,” he said, adding he hoped all of the issues would be resolved.
Given the outstanding issues, Mark Shoemaker, who has lived a few blocks west of the lot on 6th Street since 1995 and is an administrator of the opposition’s Facebook group, said the chamber’s endorsement was “premature.”
He thought the city should wait until it has filled the economic development manager position that it included in this year’s budget. Candidates are currently being interviewed.
“The city should slow down and see what the manager’s recommendation is before it starts making exceptions to city code” such as with parking variances, he said.
O’Callaghan said he imagined the position would be filled before the project came before the council. The proposal must first go through the city’s planning commission. A date has not been set, but O’Callaghan said he imagined it would be this fall.
Opponents say that the amount of sales tax brought in by a new supermarket would be negligible, since many grocery items aren’t taxable in California.
In 2013, three percent of the city’s taxable sales were from food stores, according to the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report on the city’s website.
“Personally, I believe the chamber is always going to support new business, no matter what it is,” said Shoemaker.
“We don’t want people coming in and taking away our quality of life,” he added. “We want something that’s going to improve our quality of life.” ER
