When West Covina scored a Dunkin’ Donuts in February, staff at City Hall thought it would be a victory for the city.

Now they’re facing a petition with more than 1,000 signatures from residents who say the national chain would threaten a popular family-owned donut shop when it opens next door at the South Hills Plaza in 2017.

“It was never our intent for them to go to that center,” City Manager Chris Freeland said on Tuesday. “We just wanted them to come to West Covina.”

In February, the company signed a lease with the owners of the plaza at Azusa Avenue and Aroma Drive to occupy a new building that will be constructed in the plaza parking lot next to Rainbow Donuts. Sing Yam, 48, has owned and run the shop for 28 years.

“This is my livelihood,” Yam said. “Of course I’m going to be scared because they’re a big company.”

While a petition blames the city for Dunkin’ Donuts’ decision to open a store at the plaza, Freeland said the city wasn’t part of that conversation.

“Indirectly, they may be right,” said Freeland, adding that the location was included on a list of available retail properties and shopping centers city staff gave the company last year, as they do with all companies and businesses they recruit. Also on that list is the Plaza West Covina mall, McIntyre Square and Hong Kong Plaza.

“That’s part of our economic development effort,” he said.

The city didn’t know until after the company signed the agreement with LT Global, which owns the South Hills center, that Dunkin’ Donuts had even visited the city.

“This is solely a decision between Dunkin’ Donuts and the property owner,” Freeland said.

While a Dunkin’ Donuts spokesperson would not say why the specific location was chosen, Freeland said city staff were told the company wanted to be on the east side of a major north-west street with easy access for people heading to the freeway.

Wei Huang, vice president of LT Global South Hills Plaza, said in a statement “it’s clear to us that both can bring value and benefit to the local community.”

Customers disagree.

“It’s a little ballsy to invite another donut shop to be right across the driveway,” said West Covina resident Sheila Krueger, who has been eating donuts and drinking coffee at Yam’s shop for more than 15 years. “Obviously business is business, but you support the people that are there. I feel bad that they’re doing this to her.”

Krueger, 69, said she doesn’t have a problem with Dunkin’ Donuts coming to West Covina. She just thinks the company made a bad choice about where to locate.

“I would support them if they were somewhere else but not if they go in where they’re proposing to,” she said, adding that she feared the chain would harm Yam’s shop.

But after word got out about the potential corporate competition coming to town, customers have been coming from as far as Sun Valley to support the small business.

“I’m so blessed to see that I never thought that it would go that far to see many people that really feel for me,” Yam said. “I’m very fortunate to have a lot of people supporting me.”

The city has not yet received a business license application from the company or any construction plans for the site. And unless there’s an issue with parking, aesthetics or something else, the project may not require approval from the city’s Planning Commission for a vote before the City Council.

“We’ll have to wait and see,” Freeland said, adding that if the project went to the commission, residents would have the right to appeal to the council. “If it’s a matter of ‘we don’t like this business,’ it makes it very difficult for the council legally.”