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Grand Terrace site loses Lowe's
April 26, 2006
Stephen Wall, Staff WriterSan Bernardino County Sun
GRAND TERRACE - Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse won't be coming to the city, at least for the foreseeable future.
A Woodland Hills developer said he has given up trying to acquire all the land needed to build a 20-acre shopping center on Barton Road east of Michigan Avenue.
Homeowner Jo Stringfield, who lives on Barton, has been unwilling to sell her nearly two-acre property to the city or the developer for the project.
Without her land, there isn't enough room for Lowe's, said the developer, Doug Jacobsen.
The decision to abandon Lowe's pleases residents who complained the business would generate excessive noise, traffic and air pollution.
"This is excellent news for the community," said Mark Jolstead, spokesman for We The Residents of Grand Terrace, a group opposed to Lowe's and other big-box stores. "We're very glad to hear that."
The loss of Lowe's will be felt in the city's pocketbook, however.
The 20-acre project with Lowe's was expected to produce about $600,000 a year in tax revenue for the city, officials said.
"Our feeling is the best project would be the complete project," City Manager Tom Schwab said. "With the smaller project, we have to build around Jo Stringfield's property, which I don't think helps anybody."
WHO IS "OUR" Tom Schwab is speaking in the Third Person?
Confirmed tenants for the smaller center include a Stater Bros. market and a Miguel Jr.'s Mexican restaurant, Jacobsen said.
He said he has a letter of intent from Chili's Grill and Bar and has received interest from two drugstore chains and a pet supply company. A discount general merchandise store also has expressed interest, Jacobsen said.
Drug Store is a Liquor Store in Disguise. Chili's Grill and Bar accross from a Elementary School and next to Residential property. Sounds Like a great Plan?
Pet Suppy Store May be a good fit. Especially with the Emergency Animal Hospital Which May need to move in the future. 215 construction.
Jacobsen said the scaled-down center would generate 60 percent to 75 percent less revenue than a center with Lowe's.
We could invite HOOTERS, and Larry Flint and earn more money too.. but More Income is not More Available Funds. Jacobsen's Logic is still flawed.
City officials and Jacobsen spent months trying to reach a deal to buy Stringfield's property, which has been in her family more than 50 years.
The city offered as much as $1.1 million for her land, Schwab said, but she refused to sell. In January, the City Council considered using eminent domain to acquire the property. But strong opposition from residents doomed that possibility.
The City Manager/RDA Director was authorized to Offer 700.000.00 not 1.1 million. Does the City Council Give Tom Schwab a blank checkbook? OR is the TRUTH Jacobsen had offered 1.1 million and it was rejected, and the City's Offer was not accepted at 700.000 plus change. Schwab can not keep his figures and offers straight because he doesn't know who he is working for, the City or Jacobsen.
Last week, Schwab said Jacobsen withdrew his request for city assistance in obtaining Stringfield's parcel. "I'm worn out with all the effort to go forward with (the larger project) that requires condemnation," Jacobsen said. "I don't think it will ever not require condemnation. I don't think that Jo Stringfield is ever going to want to sell."
Gee you mean a woman can say NO and MEAN it? Has the city or Jacobsen notified Jo Stringfield that she is no longer under the treat of condemnation, or Eminent Domain.
Stringfield has refused several requests to discuss the issue.
Jacobsen said the scaled-down project would not create enough revenue to support a new county library branch, which was envisioned in the larger plan.
THE PLAN IN ALL IT'S LARGENESS DID NOT PROVIDE FUNDS FOR A NEW COUNTY LIBRARY, NOR ITS OPERATIONS. THIS IS A FICTION, AND AN ATTEMPT TO VILIFY JO STRINGFIELD AS BEING RESPONSIBLE FOR THERE NOT BEING A NEW LIBRARY. PROMOTING THIS FICTION IS DESPICABLE OR WORSE. The original plan provided "Space" to be RENTED or Leased by the CITY/COUNTY at a rate of 7500.00 per month, payable to Jacobsen. This is not an INCOME... this is an expense. This does not account for the Other Operational Expenses of a larger Library. Shame on you Jacobsen, Schwab and anyone perpetuating the fiction that it is Jo's Fault there is not going to be a Library. Shame on YOU.
"I have two years and millions of dollars invested in this project," Jacobsen said. "You can bet my last dollar that I'm disappointed."
Mr. Jacobsen show us the actual Millions Spent. Not just the Escrow or Options written... and we'll play a sad song for you as you flip your property and make a pile of money as you do it. Perhaps your pile will be smaller, but it should not be at the cost of an individual's property rights, the quality of live of others, or at the expense of the citizens of the city that your PILE of money grows.
IT's Not Over Friends..
The Headline Even Suggests a Prejudice in the Reporting of the situation:
Why not give it a Header
Citizen Retains Property Rights
Or Community to Remain Free from Big Box Lowes
or … Hoax Library Not to Be Built.
