The Anchorage Daily News reports this week that a lesser big box player, Fred Meyer Stores Inc., which is owned by Kroger, is pulling out its application to build a giant store in Homer, Alaska, saying it is reconsidering its commitment to the area. The company said it was having trouble meeting timelines for the project — which translates into permitting problems caused by tough anti-box ordinances in Homer. “We’ve withdrawn from that site and are looking at what all of the options are for building in the area,” a Fred Meyer PR person told the newspaper. “We need to look at them and decide if they’re the right fit.” Thus ends a three year effort by Meyer to get into Homer. Instead, the community passed a big box ordinance last year that set a cap of 66,000 square feet for a store. It also required traffic and economic impact studies and discussed lighting, landscaping and appearance. Fred Meyer officials denied that the store cap had anything to do with their departure, but was the company really ready to build a 65,999 s.f. store? The retailer had completed work on traffic and economic-impact studies, but the cap issue was not resolved. Meyer has 11 stores in Alaska, but not in Homer.
Homer saved itself a lot of aggravation by passing a big box ordinance before the next big box tried to get in. These kinds of limiting ordinances really do work. For related stories, search the Newsflash page by “caps.”
