Fairfield City Council rejected the request after residents in the area said they believed anything but an office-type business will be detrimental to the neighborhood.
INITIAL STORY: City Council to decide fate of Asian grocery store
“We don’t see a need for another convenience store there,” said resident Jim Howell before the vote. “I just don’t think that’s the right place for it. I hope you guys stick with the original PUD from 2001 because we spent a lot of time to make that an entrance into Fairfield.”
Dhungel sought approval to make two minor modifications to the building — adding doors and removing windows — to transform the former vacant office building into a small grocery store that would serve 40 to 50 people a day. There were more than a dozen other stipulations the city requested he make, and Dhungel agreed, said Chhabi Neopaney a Re/Max agent who assisted Dhungel.
Neopaney, who is originally from Nepal, said his client has owned grocery stores in his home country and in Chicago but moved to Fairfield because “a lot of people are moving to this area, this Fairfield area. There’s a need for this grocery store.”
Re/Max agent Ron Roberto, who is assisting Dhungel, said they believed the property would not be adversely affected by converting the vacant office building into a grocery store. He said he’s disappointed in the decision.
“Everything Fairfield has asked, he has willingly accepted all the restrictions you want to put on him,” he said. “I think my client has tried his best to be a good corporate citizen and he’s trying to serve the community at large, that Nepali population that’s coming into the area and that’s the purpose of this store. He feels he’s done his research, he feels that he can be successful in the area.”
Councilman Ron D’Epifanio, who said he was speaking for himself and not the city or council, said he believed Dhungel “has been let down” by his real estate agents “not doing their diligence by not finding out this is going to be a problem (until) after it was purchased.”
D’Epifanio said he would be “more than happy” to take Dhungel around the city to look at properties that would work for a new grocery store.
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