San Francisco Board of Supervisor’s President Tom Ammiano has proposed a citywide ordinance that would require retail development projects larger than 50,000 square feet, with the exception of supermarkets, to undergo an impact review and obtain a conditional use permit before building.

The ordinance notes that large retail stores could impact traffic, reduce the diversity of the city’s economic base by eliminating smaller businesses, and preclude higher value industrial development on the few sizable parcels of urban real estate available. For these reasons, according to the ordinance, large retail stores warrant added scrutiny. 

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Citizens for Responsible Growth, a grassroots group in Agoura Hills, California, has collected enough signatures to put a measure before the voters that would limit retail stores to 60,000 square feet. The vote will be held March 5.

The city council vehemently opposes the ordinance, contending that it will reduce future sales tax revenue and invite legal challenges. Dozens of communities have enacted size caps, which have consistently been upheld by the courts as a valid use of local land use authority.

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Hoping to protect their community’s semi-rural landscape and lifestyle, a group of residents and small business owners in Agoura Hills, California are pushing for a ballot initiative that would ban retail stores larger than 60,000 square feet. Agoura Hills is a town of 20,000 people located about 35 miles north of Los Angeles.

Citizens for Responsible Development (CRD) began organizing earlier this year after a developer proposed building a 255,000 square foot retail complex south of Highway 101.

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A New York court has let stand a local law enacted by the town of Mamaroneck governing development outside its borders. Under the law, large-scale developments that abut, adjoin, or are adjacent to the Mamaroneck’s borders must undergo a comprehensive review and obtain a permit from the Town Board.

The law covers residential projects of 250 or more homes, facilities of more than 100,000 square feet, and projects involving parking for more than 1,000 vehicles.

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Several years ago the major drugstore chains—CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid, and Eckerd—lost interest in strip malls and began to focus their expansion plans on prominent downtown intersections. As Walgreens CEO Daniel Jorndt told the New York Times, the chain’s preferred location these days is "the corner of Main and Main."

Often, of course, these intersections are occupied by some of the community’s oldest and most significant buildings.

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