City stifles Wal-Mart's efforts to repeal portion of big-box ordinance

The city has rejected Wal-Mart initiative petitions seeking to repeal a key-portion of Tucson's big-box ordinance. The move is likely to spark lawsuits, and again thrust the big-box fight to the front of the line of hot political issues heading into this year's city election. City Clerk Kathy Detrick said she rejected the petitions on the advice of City Attorney Mike Rankin, who said "Arizona law clearly states citizens cannot use the initiative process to change zoning laws or modify them." Rankin said he cannot "comment beyond what's at issue in the case" because the city is "pretty certain" to be in litigation over the rejection of the initiative. If approved, the initiative would have repealed the portion of the city's big-box ordinance restricting food and beverage sales to no more than 10 percent of a store's total space. He said Wal-Mart's only recourse is to go court to get an order for it to be put on the ballot. "They have to challenge that decision by the clerk and they'll have to challenge it in court," Rankin said. Wal-Mart Spokeswoman Delia Garcia said Wal-Mart is disappointed by the city's decision, and is weighing its options. She said Wal-Mart has 10 days to respond to the clerk's action and will take it's time doing so. Garcia said Wal-Mart had obtained 22,000 signatures to get the initiative on November ballot. The company needed 11,615 valid signatures from registered city voters by Thursday for its "Consumer Choice Initiative" to appear on the ballot. "We're evaluating our next step and what our legal options are," Garcia said. "The only course (to get it on the ballot) would be legal action against the city. Wal-Mart does not enter into legal action lightly." This would not be the first time the big-box issue has polarized the city's political scene and led to a Wal- Mart initiative ending up in court. In 1999 and 2000, the company fought with neighborhood residents and big-box critics over building a Wal- Mart at El Con Mall. An initiative petition drive to overturn the law failed when the Arizona Court of Appeals ultimately threw out the company's petitions as not meeting the legal requirements. More recently, city leaders led a pitched battle over whether to give developer Eastbourne Investments Ltd. a waiver of the same 10 percent restriction on groceries for a retail store larger than 100,000 square feet. The waiver was ultimately granted in March, but not before two years of acrimonious bickering. Just two months later, Wal-Mart started its current initiative drive. For more on this story, see tomorrow's Arizona Daily Star Contact reporter Rob O'Dell at 573-4240 or rodell@azstarnet.com.