Home Depot foes
gripe at City Hall

The protesters claim the giant
retailer is getting preferential treatment
in its bid for rezoning to build
a store at Pearl City

By Lori Tighe
Star-Bulletin

Protesters stood on the steps of City Hall, decrying the preferential zoning treatment they believe Home Depot is receiving to build a giant store in Pearl City.

"The mayor is willing to compromise the Pearl City community, hundreds of small businesses, and thousands of jobs to bail the city out of a bad investment by selling a large parcel to Home Depot," said Jonathan Young, general manager of FKS Sales, Rentals and Service.

"This 'fast-tracking' is disturbing to FKS and the coalition of concerned citizens, and we discovered what we believe to be improprieties and a conflict of interest," Young said yesterday.

FKS Sales asked the attorney general's office to investigate the "irregularities that are occurring in City Bill 101, more commonly known as the Home Depot Bill."

The bill may violate a state statute that says the city cannot sell property before it's zoned for intended use, the firm said.

The 13-plus acres Home Depot wants to buy from the city for $17.5 million are zoned preservation-military. To build the 154,000-square-foot store, Home Depot needs commercial zoning. The City Council decision is due Wednesday.

City Managing Director Bob Fishman insists the bill does not violate any state statutes.

"It has been considered responsibly, extending to the streets and roads adjacent to the property. The process has been completely open to scrutiny all along the way."

Young also said the city has a conflict of interest: Don Clegg, owner of Analytical Planning Consultants who works for the city on polls and on the mayor's campaign, also works for Home Depot.

"The problem here is that Mr. Clegg has also been hired by Home Depot to assist them through the land utilization and city red tape process. We believe that the connection between the two is directly linked to the possibility of impropriety," Young wrote to the attorney general in a Feb. 13 letter signed by 20 workers.

Clegg called the accusation "grossly unfair" and said "It shows you how low they can go. They are asking the city to subsidize their corporate welfare. They want the city to keep their competition out at the taxpayers' expense."

Clegg acknowledged his work on the mayor's campaign, city polls and Home Depot consulting. "But it's my job. I don't see any conflict with that."

Home Depot spokeswoman Amy Friend, of Fullerton, Calif., said her firm has followed all city requirements. "We feel it's been a fair process. If the attorney general looks into it, that will prove to be true."