Once again, residents and business owners of the rural community of Acton want to block plans to bring a full-scale supermarket to their quiet enclave of roughly 9,000, sandwiched between the cities of Santa Clarita and Palmdale. Boise-based Albertson’s Inc. intends to construct a 40,000-square-foot supermarket on 5 & #733; acres along the town’s main thoroughfare, at the southwest corner of Crown Valley and Antelope Woods roads. The project would include a full-service pharmacy, bank, Albertson’s Express gas station and mini-mart, and 190 parking spaces well above the county requirement of 170. Albertson’s has jumped through all the right bureaucratic hoops so far, but it’s not done yet. Acton residents were successful in blocking a similar push to build a Ralphs grocery store there in 1994, even though that project also had received planning approval two years prior. “I strongly believe a majority of the citizens in Acton want a grocery store here,” said Miguel Gutierrez, regional manager of public affairs for Albertson’s. “We did do a marketing analysis and we found that a majority of the 9,000 residents support the idea.” Ralphs Grocery Co. officials were reluctant to discuss the Albertson’s project or offer advice about its viability. However, spokesman Terry O’Neil said his company decided to shelve its plans once it learned the project couldn’t secure solid community support. “We attempted several years ago to put a brand new, full-service grocery store in Acton,” said O’Neil. “But at that time, residents of Acton just didn’t want to change and members of the community voiced their opinion on that.” And, said O’Neil, Ralphs, since bought by Kroger Co., was also eyeballing several locations in the Lancaster/Palmdale area. He said the company took the community concerns seriously and, since it was looking at several spots in the area anyway, it made sense to just walk away. “Ralphs considered Acton an under-served community and we believed we could work with the community,” O’Neil said. “But it was only one of the communities we were looking at. We always have a lot of sites ongoing in various stages. In the interim, we had also gone through a lot of changes with mergers, so our plans changed anyway.” Ralphs now has two stores in Lancaster and one in Palmdale. According to Tim Heath, owner of Acton Meat, located inside the town’s only market, Acton Market, Ralphs did work closely with the community, including agreeing to conduct a survey of Acton residents and business owners, even if officials eventually changed their mind about the project. “Ralphs had been coming to meetings and working with the community all along,” said Heath. “Albertson’s has never done this. They did everything under the table. Ralphs agreed to do their own survey and, when they found out that the survey didn’t support the idea, they backed out.” Gutierrez, to the contrary, said Albertson’s officials are confident they have the support they need to push their plans through and are nowhere close to pulling the plug on the project. What’s more, Gutierrez claims the $7 million project would create close to 80 jobs, half of which have been guaranteed to Acton residents. At least 10 of those jobs would go to locals who now commute to jobs at Albertson’s two Palmdale stores. Acton resident Gail Ortiz said that doesn’t mitigate majority concerns about protecting Acton’s rural roots. “I think there is a market for those jobs, especially for teenagers because they now have to commute out of Acton to work,” Ortiz said. “But most people here either work from home, are retired or commute out of the city. When you move here, you do so with the understanding that this is the way it is.” The county approved the Albertson’s project in 1999 on land that was already zoned for commercial use. Consequently, no special hearing was required. But in order to sell liquor, applications for a special use permit had to be posted. That, said Heath, was done in December, the first official notice anyone in town had. “We didn’t know anything about this project until we saw the permit postings on telephone polls,” said Heath. Albertson’s now faces a March 7 hearing with the Public Utilities Commission for approval of the liquor license application. Close to 500 people, both for and against the project, turned up for a town hall meeting Feb. 5. Heath said three Albertson’s representatives were at that meeting. Midway through the meeting, two left to deal with the shooting death of a Brink’s security guard at the company’s North Hollywood store. “They are going to have a bank in this one,” Heath said, “and this is really going to be great because it usually takes about an hour for the sheriff to get out here.” That was the second meeting between locals and Albertson’s representatives. Heath said the first meeting, held in January, drew heavy criticism from opponents who questioned the idea that the store would draw 85 percent of its business from the local community and believe a supermarket would drive a stake through the hearts of established small businesses. “The company is not being honest when they say they are going to bring in 40 to 50 people hired from the community,” Heath said. “They might hire a couple of box boys, but that’s it.” Gutierrez said Albertson’s will not fold as easily as Ralphs did seven years ago. “We are going to stand and fight as long as we have to to at least be heard.”