Residents, Markets Protest Kroger in Downtown Royal Oak

When you stop in community-based Hollywood or Holiday markets this weekend, expect to be asked to sign a petition to keep downtown Royal Oak the way it is - without a new "big box" Kroger proposed to be built between the two Main Street stores.

Preserving Royal Oak is what is behind a new "save the community" advocacy group that is battling Kroger's proposal to build on the long vacant former auto dealership property on the east side of Main Street north of 11 Mile Road - just north of the newly opened Emagine entertainment complex.

The proposal for a 49,715-square-foot Kroger with a 2,187-square-foot mezzanine was submitted to the Royal Oak Planning Department in the past couple of weeks. When word of Kroger scoping out the location started spreading, Royal Oak resident Sandra Wilkins knew she needed to do something to stop the development that she believes would interrupt the “foot traffic community appeal” of Royal Oak. Instead of leaving the fate of the property in the hands of the city, Wilkins confronted local store owners Bill Welsh of  and Tom Violante Jr. of .

Together the group sought out Tanner Friedman in hopes that hiring a public relations firm would accelerate the pace of the mission that the organizers dubbed Preserve Royal Oak. Through the use of Twitter, Facebook and its own website, the group is trying to get the word out as quickly as possible. Saturday from  10 a.m.-1 p.m., Wilkins and other residents will be gathering petition signatures outside of Hollywood and Holiday markets and plan to collect signatures the following weekend as well.

“Membership is growing hourly, actually minutely,” Wilkins said. “I personally am not against Kroger; I’m against Kroger trying to suck the life out of Royal Oak. I just don’t think it’s going to be good for the character of our downtown.”

With the recent opening of the  and Star Lanes just down the street, Wilkins is concerned that that section of downtown would be too heavily congested.

City Commissioner Chuck Semchena agrees, saying it is too soon to tell what Emagine’s impact will be on traffic and parking in the area, let alone to allocate the adjacent property to a large grocery store like Kroger. “I’m very concerned about this very intense use of land being proposed right next to another intense use of land,” Semchena said. “I would feel more comfortable waiting a year before being forced to approve this project.”

Holiday's Violante also thinks it's a good idea to be cautious. “I don’t know the impact Emagine is going to have on traffic and congestion and parking," he said. "If that all works out, then awesome — it’s unique, it fits, it’s local, love it. I just think it’s kind of irresponsible to put a Kroger right on top of an unknown.”

Kroger’s submitted proposal

Wilkins argues that “1,000 cars will be added to Main Street, which is already gridlocked, on a daily basis” and 25 semi trucks would be stacking and unloading daily as well. Royal Oak's director of planning, Tim Thwing, could not confirm these numbers. He said Kroger's proposal did not list the number of trucks that would be offloading daily, but it is something his department requested Kroger to revise in the proposal. In its proposal, Kroger noted it would limit loading hours to 7 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday through Sunday and it intends to be open 6 a.m.-midnight.

“They have, so far, based on the plans we’ve received, met the parking requirements,” Thwing said. “But some of this might change.”

As submitted, the plans state that the parking lot developed can accommodate approximately 200 cars. However, Thwing said that number could fluctuate because the planning department requested Kroger include where the grocery cart corrals would be placed in its site proposal drawings.

As the proposal is drawn up now, the building would cost $18 million and take 10 months to construct. Plans call for 150 full- and part-time jobs, Thwing said.

If all of the revisions are turned into the planning department by Monday, then the proposal would go before the Planning Commission June 14, Thwing said. That is when Preserve Royal Oak petitioners plan to present its petition signatures in protest of the development.

“We’ve asked Kroger to address several issues,” Thwing said. “The big item we’re recommending is they flip to the north site as opposed to the south.”

Currently, the plans are drafted so the building is positioned on the south side of the property toward the intersection of East University Avenue and Main Street, with the main entrance to the store on the north side. However, the Planning Department suggested Kroger position the building oppositely, near the corner of Pingree Boulevard and Main, Thwing said. That suggestion would mean the unloading and loading would no longer occur on University. 

How it would affect the local economy

Holiday's Violante said he isn’t afraid of healthy competition and fear of going head to head with Kroger is not why he got involved with Preserve Royal Oak. Although he understands residents might find his involvement self-serving, he said his intentions are to preserve the community.

Based on Violante’s knowledge of the grocery business, he estimated Kroger would make $600,000 annually and those dollars would be swept away to the store’s corporate office in Cincinnati, not into Royal Oak.

“We need businesses that recircle the dollars back into the local economy,” Violante said. “When people buy from local people, contribute money to charities – those dollars get recircled and recircled and the effect is incredible.”

Wilkins touched on this argument as well, and is fearful that a Kroger, which offers everything from groceries, flowers, a pharmacy and more, would have a negative impact on many smaller niche businesses in the area.

Royal Oak resident Tim Harrison, who worked as a dairy distributor unloading products at various grocery stores, believes Hollywood Market and Holiday Market focus on the community but he doesn't think a larger chain store like Kroger would.

Reason vs. emotion

Why build downtown on the former Fresard dealership site? “One, probably because it’s vacant and available, two I think it’s a little bit more centrally located with the total population of Royal Oak,” Kroger spokesman Dale Hollandsworth said.

The Kroger near the corner of West 13 Mile Road and Woodward Avenue in the Northwood Shopping Center has been presented with a lease renewal option and Hollandsworth believes it is Kroger's intent to sign the lease again, waiving off rumors that not being able to renew its lease pushed Kroger to seek other locations.

“Royal Oak is a nice growing community and I believe the belief is that it can certainly support the multiple Kroger stores,” Hollandsworth said.

Residents need to be careful how they present their arguments to the city, Planning Commissioner Vice-Chariman Clyde Esbri said.

“The people involved need to focus on zoning and present good hard facts that are reasonable and lucid and based on how ordinances apply to it,” Esbri said. “If it becomes emotional and irrational it’s not going to help anything.”

Semchena said he has already received emails voicing concerns from residents. He noted that many of the points made were valid. “I think the residents have a right to petition and they should voice their opinions," Semchena said "That’s a part of our process.” 

“Kroger grocery store is a necessity business,” Harrison said. “But my question is, as a necessity business, is it a necessity to locate in downtown Royal Oak?”

For more information about Preserve Royal Oak visit www.preserveroyaloak.com.