Inglewood Reverses Itself on Wal-Mart

The Inglewood City Council reversed its decision to bar Wal-Mart Stores Inc. from building a super center in the city, giving organized labor at least a temporary setback in its efforts to limit the giant retailer’s expansion in California.

The 3-0 vote Tuesday night came in response to a request from Inglewood’s interim city attorney, who advised council members to repeal the ordinance on procedural grounds. Interim City Atty. Emmerline Foote warned that the ordinance exposed the city to a lawsuit and a referendum on the matter.

Still, some on the council, along with the union representing local supermarket clerks, say the issue is not going away. Councilman Jose Fernandez said Wednesday that he plans to ask the city’s planning commision to consider whether an ordinance regulating large retail stores should be enacted.

“I don’t think it’s a dead issue,� said Fernandez, who sponsored the original ordinance but was absent from Tuesday’s meeting. “My position is the same as before.�

But Wal-Mart, which has already submitted signatures to qualify a ballot referendum on overturning the original ordinance, said it would fight any resubmission of a similar proposal.

“If in fact they came back with it again, or with another ordinance similar to what they had done before, under California law it would be prohibited,� said Robert McAdam, Wal-Mart’s vice president for state and local government relations. “Otherwise the referendum process would never work and we would have to take them to court.�

After a 30-minute closed executive session Tuesday, the council repealed the measure, which bars construction of retail stores that exceed 155,000 square feet and that sells more than 20,000 nontaxable items, such as food and drugs. Although the measure did not specifically name Wal-Mart, the criteria applied to few if any retailers other than the Bentonville, Ark.-based discount chain.

Foote told the council that the ordinance was improperly passed as an emergency measure and was not drafted by the city attorney.

Without the ordinance’s repeal, Foote said, the city could face expensive lawsuits that it probably would not win.

Wal-Mart executives say they plan to continue moving ahead with plans to build a smaller Wal-Mart store on the Inglewood site.

But others on the council say they will continue to fight the nation’s largest retailer.

“I think those in support of a restriction like the one passed need to sharpen their pencils and go back to the drawing board,� said Councilman Curren Price, who had voted for the ordinance and for repealing it.

Union of Food and Commercial Workers Local 770, which urged the council to impose a ban, said it would ask the council to pursue a similar ordinance through normal channels, being careful to avoid further procedural errors. Failing that, the union said it would fight the rezoning of the land on which nonunion Wal-Mart intends to build.