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City Beat
Longs gets permit for new store on Lincoln
Neighbors will be able to file appeal up until Nov. 17
By Kate Carter
The city's planning director signed the permit for the new Lincoln Avenue Longs drugstore last week, although Willow Glen Neighborhood Association members say they disagree with the permit's requirements.
Two neighbors who live near to the proposed store attended the Nov. 8 director's hearing, but WGNA wasn't informed of the meeting until just days before, said WGNA president J. Michael Gonzales.
Residents within 300 feet of the site were sent notification letters 14 days prior to the director's hearing, said planner Britta Buys, but the city isn't required to alert the neighborhood association.
Gonzales said he found out about the meeting only after he called the city. He said none of the neighbors who received the letter told him about it because they thought he already knew.
Because he couldn't attend, Gonzales faxed a letter to the meeting with a summary of the association's concerns with the proposed permit. The permit requires a traffic study of the new store six months, not one year, after the store opens. Additionally, construction hours at the site were to be from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., although neighbors prefer that construction stop at 5 p.m.
Nearby residents Janice and Brad Santos attended the meeting and raised these concerns with the planners, but were told six-month traffic reports and 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. construction hours are standards set by the public works department.
Longs architect George Ramstad indicated at the hearing that construction hours would end at 5 p.m.
Nearby residents have until Nov. 17, to appeal the permit. The Santoses said they did not plan to appeal but may take steps to not support Longs if it doesn't adhere to its agreements.
Gonzales was also frustrated that WGNA's agreement with Longs about conditions for the new store was not part of the permit.
Buys said that the permit sets the conditions for the building's construction, not its use. A conditional use permit could possibly have included the conditions of the agreement, but was not required for this development.
The letter from Longs that includes its agreements with WGNA is in the project's file and public record, she said, but the city cannot force Longs to abide by it.
"We're left to our own relationship with Longs," Gonzales said.
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Willow Glen, California Since 1992
