Pines gives tentative approval to Home Depot on Hiatus Road near mall

Posted on Wednesday, August 03, 2005

Pines gives tentative approval to Home Depot on Hiatus Road near mall

BY JENNIFER LEBOVICH
jlebovich@herald.com

The Home Depot on Wednesday won the first of two City Commission votes needed to build a new store in Pembroke Pines despite neighbors' fears about an increase in traffic.

About 275 residents attended the meeting, mostly to discourage the commission from approving a Home Depot at the northeast corner of Pines Boulevard and Hiatus Road across from the Pembroke Lakes Mall.

The commission voted 3-2 to tentatively approve the rezoning. The final vote will be Sept. 7.

The company wants to sell its 11-year-old store at Pines Boulevard and 129th Avenue and move to the new location.

The new development would generate about 8,000 car trips a day, according to a traffic consultant from Home Depot.

The company has proposed a 152,000-square-foot store, with an additional 82,000 square feet of retail space.

Mayor Frank Ortis supported the rezoning because traffic consultants have said The Home Depot would cause less traffic than other big box stores such as Wal-Mart.

''All the traffic studies they have done show a Home Depot is less onerous then other stores,'' he said. "I think it's the better of the alternatives.''

Commissioners Iris Siple and William Armstrong voted against the project on Wednesday.

Some supporters of the project wore bright orange Home Depot hats, while loud applause greeted many of those speaking out against the project.

The planning and zoning board voted 2-2 in June to recommend that the commission not rezone the property. A tie vote is considered a recommendation against rezoning.

TRAFFIC CITED

Residents expressed concern that the store will bring too much traffic, especially large trucks, to the site.

''I don't think it's a good move,'' said Jim Ryan, a resident of Pembroke Lakes, which is near the proposed site. "It's going to create a lot more traffic, especially with delivery trucks, and it's going to put Hiatus Road in jeopardy.''

But Alan Nengel, vice president of the Images homeowners association, said the site will eventually be developed and a Home Depot store is better than other businesses allowed on the site.

Home Depot has worked with residents and agreed to landscaping and other concessions, he said.

OTHERS PROTEST

Many cities in South Florida have been fighting big box retailers such as The Home Depot and Wal-Mart.

Dennis Mele, the attorney for the developer, said his client has been approached by other big box stores interested in the site if The Home Depot store is not approved.

In Miramar, hundreds of residents have turned out at city meetings to protest a proposed Wal-Mart, saying it would bring more traffic, and even attract crime and hurt property values. Coconut Grove, which has been fighting a proposed Home Depot, enlisted the help of Sprawl-Busters, a national campaign against big box stores.

LOCATION IMPORTANT

The stores change locations after a few years to gain better positioning against competitors, said founder Al Norman.

''They want a bigger store, they want a better location in the market,'' he said. ``Oftentimes they'll go into a community and grab the first location that's feasible, and then wait a few years to grab a better spot.''

Copyright 2005 Knight Ridder