Story last updated at
8:23 PM on
Wednesday, August 2, 2006
Palmer, Soldotna discuss their ‘big box’ experience
What role did the city play in determining the exterior appearance of Fred Meyer?
Sara Jansen, community development coordinator, city of Palmer: Our mayor was actively involved in working with representatives from Fred Meyer, saying ‘we’re thrilled to have you here, we’re excited about it, but we want it to be a reflection of our community.’
We ended up having two public meetings, and I remember (Fred Meyer) saying that two was not the norm, but we just really worked with them. We found them to be pretty open to the fact that straight concrete walls weren’t going to cut it for us. … Some larger stores really get it that it isn’t that communities don’t want them, but because we do, they need to be more responsive.
Anna Johnson, assistant, Public Works Department, city of Soldotna: It had to be built to the Uniform Building Code, which is typical of all cities. Soldotna’s code doesn’t have design standards other than what we have for landscaping and off-street parking requirements.
The Abbott Road store in Anchorage: 172,011 square feet, opened 2002, full-service store.
Do you allow overnight camping in Fred Meyer’s parking lot?
JANSEN: No, we asked them not to. The first year they did that, but we have something in our code that says you can’t.
JOHNSON: Fred Meyer knew (overnight) campers would park (in the parking area), but they didn’t realize it would be that many campers and they were pretty surprised. A few years ago when I was observing and monitoring the parking lot, there were times when there were more RVs than there was allowable parking, and they were actually staying weeks, months at a time. I finally had it when I saw someone canning fish in the parking lot. We finally said, ‘that’s it, we’re done.’ People raised heck with us for not allowing them to stay there, not to park free. A gentleman from Sterling would stay there 90 days free. … (Fred Meyer) has actually hired two lot attendants to monitor the amount of time spent there and then they get them (vehicles) to move on, to ensure that is isn’t long-term. They have personally restricted it to three nights.
The Chugiak-Eagle River store is 170,667 square feet, opened in 2003 and is a full-service store.
How accommodating was Fred Meyer?
JANSEN: We found that larger stores, if you ask, if you try to work with them and meet them halfway, have designs they can use in your community. … Retailers are starting to realize that not one storefront, if you will, fits in each town. I don’t know what caused them to change, but I think it is a good thing. I just can’t say enough good things about Fred Meyer. They didn’t do everything we asked, but even to the size of sign — our sign code says it can’t be higher than 20 feet, which is still large. We took pictures of the street, sent it to (Fred Meyer’s) engineers in Washington, and said, ‘look, it needs to fit here.’ And they said, ‘oh, OK.’
JOHNSON: They’ve done a great job. The new manager is very conscientious and I’ve really enjoyed working with him.
Fred Meyer's Palmer store has 71,703 square feet, opened in 2004 and carries some general merchandise, including electronics. Most of the store is devoted to groceries.
Has your experience with Fred Meyer changed city processes?
JANSEN: We now require retailers with stores of more than 20,000 square feet to come in and apply for a large retail establishment permit. Before you just had to submit a site plan, but now it’s structured. We need to sit down at the table, see what the store will look like, where the trucks will enter, how the Dumpsters are covered, all that stuff that we didn’t really have in code because we didn’t have a store that large. That was a good thing that came out of having Fred Meyer in town.
JOHNSON: We have a general landscaping standard that was less restrictive then than now. ... When Fred Meyer was built, the (city’s) 1996 zoning code was in effect. Since that time there’s been a complete rewrite of the code, which is not uncommon and wasn’t because of Fred Meyer. Public record shows the city working with Fred Meyer and it went rather smoothly.
Fred Meyer's Sol-dotna store has 157,873 square feet, opened in 1994 and is a full-service store, meaning it has de-partments for groceries, home, furniture, apparel, garden and electronics, and more than 250,000 items.
Photos by Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman, Eagle River Star and Alaska Journal of Commerce
Fred Meyer's Wasilla store has 168,599 square feet; opened 1999 and is a full-service store.
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