While eager to see a popular supermarket chain established in their midst, Crenshaw area residents are offended by the way the proposed structure may look and are poised to do battle with the Los Angeles City Council about it.

The Hyde Park Organizational Partnership for Empowerment (HOPE), along with several other Crenshaw area groups, are fighting to have a proposed Fresh and Easy market meet the standards established by the Crenshaw Specific Plan, which governs how Crenshaw Boulevard — the main thoroughfare of Los Angeles’ only predominately African-American community — will look.

After years of studies, negotiations, and planning by HOPE, community residents and city officials, Los Angeles adopted the Crenshaw Specific Plan in 2004, to the considerable ballyhooing and back-patting of politicians and community leaders. The adoption was such a momentous event in the Black community that I wrote a front page Wave story back then heralding the milestone and crediting Councilman Bernard Parks with having done a great job in getting the city of Los Angeles to finally afford Crenshaw Boulevard the same respect it does to the commercial districts in other parts of the city —such as Hollywood, Westwood, the Valley, etc.

The purpose of the Crenshaw — or any community’s specific plan — is to eliminate the unsightly mishmash of businesses, buildings, facilities and “anything goes” enterprises that spring up along the thoroughfare. The plan’s goal is to make the commercial district look good; make it amenable and attractive to shoppers; make it a place people want to go to; make it a source of community pride.

The Crenshaw Specific Plan, which extends along Crenshaw Boulevard from the Santa Monica Freeway down to the city of Inglewood, spells out in explicit and no-uncertain-terms exactly the kinds of commercial activities will be allowed in it, the kinds of structures those activities will be housed in, and the kinds of signage those structures will display. The specific plans designate how big a thing will be, the parking and walking areas that will be established and the color schemes and landscaping that would be acceptable in the area.

The Crenshaw Specific Plan, for example, forbids anymore automotive businesses, drive-through establishments, gun and pawn shops, swap meets, public storage, motels, bars not attached to dining and dancing businesses, recycling and buy-back centers and strip malls.

And therein lies the problem: The community says the Fresh and Easy market proposed for the corner of 52nd Street and Crenshaw Boulevard is a strip mall. Residents say it violates the clearly defined dimensions governing the distance between a business and the street. As proposed, It has an unsightly parking lot in front of the building — something you don’t see in other neighborhoods with specific plans. The residents want the standards of the Crenshaw Specific Plan met and they want the parking lot moved to either the back or side of the building and the building, itself, to sit immediately upon the street.

“The Fresh and Easy on Central and Adams is exactly like we want ours to be,” declared Winnie Jackson, president of HOPE. “Our plan specifically forbids strip malls and that is what Fresh and Easy is proposing to give us. They plan to build on the lot next to an adjacent structure and the rest of the lot is for parking. We don’t want parking on the corner. We want the building on the corner, not cars. Otherwise, it’s a strip mall.

“We fought long and hard to get this specific plan in place, not to have companies like Fresh and Easy show up and not have to comply with our plan. Don’t get me wrong,” Jackson continued. “We are not against Fresh and Easy. We just want them to comply with the plan."

Asata Umoja, a Crenshaw activist, explained that one of the goals of the specific plan was to encourage pedestrian-oriented development. “But now Fresh and Easy is proposing to build a typical auto-related strip mall, which is contrary to our plans to encourage a pedestrian-oriented area around the Slauson Avenue portion of the boulevard,” Umoja said. “We have hopes and aspirations for a better looking community."

The issue puts the Crenshaw community at odds with its councilman, Parks, who championed the adoption of the plan in 2004 but who is now reported to favor letting Fresh and Easy do what it wants. Linda Ricks, chairman of the Crenshaw-Slauson Community Advisory Committee, said: “What I object to is that our community is treated like the wild, wild west and we are not supposed to have any standards. While our councilman says our specific plan is ‘outdated,’ I’ve never heard anyone say that about the specific plan in Westwood, which by the way, has four specific plans.”

York Knowlton of the Windsor Hills Village Extended Block Club, said: “We specifically wrote in the plan that projects in this area would be ‘walkable’ and pedestrian-friendly. Fresh and Easy knows this. The CRA (Community Redevelopment Agency) knows this and Councilman Parks knows this, but they all choose to ignore the plan.”

Councilman Parks did not return a call for comments on this issue, but Brendan Wonnacott, a communications official with Fresh and Easy, said his company “is working and will continue to work with city officials and neighbors to make everyone happy with what’s going on.” He added: “Every site has its own story and we intend to work with the community as we go through this process.”

In September, the City Planning Department’s South Los Angeles Area Planning Commission granted Fresh and Easy’s request to disregard five elements of the Crenshaw Specific Plan, including the strip mall prohibition. HOPE and the community coalition has appealed that decision to the City Council and the matter will be heard by the Planning and Land Management Committee on Nov. 16 at 2:30 p.m. in the Board of Public Works Hearing Room in City Hall.