CITY SCHEDULES VOTE ON PROPOSED LUCKY UNIT

COTATI, Calif. -- Voters in this small northern California city will vote in November on an initiative that would restrict the size of retail stores to 43,000 square feet -- a measure opponents say is designed to keep Lucky Stores from building a combination store here. Lucky has proposed building a 65,300-square-foot food-and-drug store in this city of 6,500 people, located about 100 miles north of San Francisco.

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"Big box retail threaten[s] the viability of existing small businesses. Losing these businesses would change the economic and social fabric of our small town Cotati can welcome new tax-generating businesses without selling out its identity.

"With Measure F, a grocery store could be built that will conform to our community."

A spokeswoman for Lucky Stores declined comment last week. However, opponents of the initiative indicated that Lucky had offered to reduce the size of its proposed store by 11,000 square feet and to pay for additional traffic lights in the city.

Opponents said the initiative's main purpose is to protect Oliver's, a 36,000-square-foot supermarket that is Cotati's only grocery store, although Albertson's, Raley's and Safeway stores are located as close as a half-mile away in adjacent communities.