Staples plans irk Sonoma merchants

A dustup over big-box stores has broken out in Sonoma, but it's not over a Wal-Mart, Target or Lowe's.

This fight is over plans to put a Staples office supply and computer store in a building that was home to a Ford car dealership.

The 14,000-square-foot building on West Napa Street is much smaller than the 50,000-square-foot structures that most people associate with big-box stores.

Nevertheless, opponents are tossing about the emotionally charged label in their effort to keep the national retailer from getting a toehold in town.

The Staples plans are "huge for Sonoma," said Rick Pappas, who owns a cellphone, computer and video game store in Sonoma. "This isn't a grocery store or a pharmacy. This is a general merchandise store with multiple departments, each one of which are reflected in the community."

But others argue that having the building remain empty costs the city more in terms of lost tax revenue.

"Basically, that's an unutilized asset for the city," said Larry Barnett, a former Sonoma councilman and two-term mayor. "It's only going to be a big company that can afford to recondition a 14,000-square-foot building. If it's not Staples, it will be somebody else."

A group of local merchants sent a letter to the Sonoma City Council demanding changes to the city's zoning ordinances to "keep our town free of big-box store conglomerates."

The council will take up the issue tonight at a public hearing.

Councilman Ken Brown, who sought the discussion, said in an email that businesses such as Staples have "the potential of significantly affecting the small town character of the city of Sonoma and its core business."

He added that Staples "may need to be subjected to more extensive analysis and study than the city's current development code requires."

Councilman Steve Barbose said he's gotten a number of emails about the Staples project, "mostly con."

The building where Staples wants to put in a store was formerly the Holder Ford dealership and is at the northwest entrance to town where West Napa Street, Riverside Drive and Sonoma Highway converge.

Sonoma Planning Director David Goodison said Staples is not required to get a use permit because the site already is zoned for commercial use. Only new construction of more than 1,000 square feet is subject to that review, he said.

The city does not have an ordinance that addresses chain retail stores, and in fact, there are a number of such stores in town, including Safeway, CVS Pharmacy and Rite-Aid.

The city has a Friedman's Home Improvement store but no other commercial sites large enough to support a big-box development "as the term is normally defined," Goodison said.

Pappas said his opposition to Staples is about more than just size. He said he doesn't want Sonoma to become dominated by chain retail stores, like he says has happened in Rohnert Park, where he lives.

"We are the national chain capital of the world," he said of Rohnert Park. "All of the mom-and-pop stores have been forced out. It's an ugly feeling."

Pappas acknowledged that he also opposes Staples because he fears the store will put him out of business. Among those who signed his letter to the city were owners of other copy and blueprint stores who stand to lose financially from the competition.

"I'm not going to shy away from that position," he said. "My business has been struggling the last few years because of the recession."

Short of approving an interim ordinance on an emergency basis, an act that would have to be supported by four of five council members, there is little to prevent Staples from opening.

The actions of the city's design review committee, which is reviewing the outlet's plans, can be appealed to the City Council. But Barnett said landscaping and other design details likely were addressed by the car dealership.

"If the city begins to violate its own rules in an arbitrary fashion, it's going to find itself in court and lose," he said.

You can reach Staff Writer Derek Moore at 521-5336 or derek.moore@pressdemocrat.com.