City Denies Wal-Mart Permits for Neighborhood Market

HAYWARD, Calif. — The city council here voted Wednesday to deny Wal-Mart Stores the permits necessary to build a Neighborhood Market in this Northern California city.

The matter came before the council following an appeal by a local landowner, who objected to the refusal of the city's planning commission to issue permits for the store. Local sources said the commission denied the permits because the store's use was in conflict with local zoning laws, which require 80% of the business at the location to come from freeway routes.

With local analysts projecting 80% of Wal-Mart's customers would come from non-freeway routes, granting it the necessary permits would have violated the use for which the building was zoned when it opened as a Circuit City in 2004. Accordingly, the council denied Wal-Mart the permits by a vote of 4-3.