GILROY
– One of the most controversial retail developments in Gilroy
history is poised for city approval, based on environmental studies
geared to find flaws with the project that will move the existing
Wal-Mart to a site more than double its size a half mile away.
GILROY – One of the most controversial retail developments in Gilroy history is poised for city approval, based on environmental studies geared to find flaws with the project that will move the existing Wal-Mart to a site more than double its size a half mile away.
A nearly 220,000-square-foot big box retail store inside the new Pacheco Pass shopping center at Highway 152 and U.S. 101 will cause a significant impact to Gilroy’s air quality, an environmental review by Monterey-based EMC Planning Group claims. But as long as mitigation measures get employed appropriately, impacts across nine other environmental areas of concern – such as noise pollution and water quality – will be “less than significant,” the study shows.
Given the project’s positive environmental review and the make-up of the current City Council, Gilroy likely will become the first city in Northern California to have a Wal-Mart Supercenter – a version of the retail giant’s regular store that also carries groceries. The new City Council includes a majority of big-box retail advocates and, at best, two Wal-Mart watchdogs. The argument that eastside supermarkets may be forced out of business if Wal-Mart is allowed to sell groceries in Gilroy has failed to sway many individuals on the city dais.
“If it’s going to happen for sure, maybe we can sit down with Wal-Mart and talk to them about having a positive impact on this community other than delivering low-cost goods,” recently elected City Councilman Paul Correa said.
Correa said he’d like to discuss with Wal-Mart issues such as hiring workers from Gilroy first, using local companies to do construction work at the new site, paying “livable wages” to its employees and donating more to local charities.
“There’s lots of ways to make this more of a win-win situation for them and our community,” Correa said.
Wal-Mart wants to open the Supercenter by late next year.
Wal-Mart spokeswoman Amy Hill said her company would agree to meet with Correa and others, but defended the nation’s largest retail store’s existing level of commitment to the community.
“I certainly would argue that we’ve been making a positive impact on the community for the last decade,” Hill said. “More than half of the employees live and work in Gilroy; the other half lives close by in places like Morgan Hill and Hollister. We donate $60,000 to $70,000 each year to charities (a number Hill says will increase with a Supercenter in town) …
“I don’t think we have to prove anything to a Councilmember whose campaign seemed to be about being against us, but we’d be happy to sit down and educate Councilman Correa about our community involvement and see if we can appease his concerns,” Hill said.
Input on the Wal-Mart development will not end with Correa, however.
The city began Monday its 45-day public review period for the Wal-Mart project’s environmental impact report (EIR) – a document mandated by state environmental law that requires developers to report and mitigate for impacts to things like biological resources, traffic and public safety, among many other things.
The Wal-Mart EIR will be available for public review and comment through Jan. 22, and the city has extended its regular hours Thursday so copies of the EIR can be handed out.
“I’ve never done anything like this before, but it’s hard for a lot of people to get here during regular business hours,” city planner Melissa Durkin said.
The unions – as did Wal-Mart – had heavy involvement in Gilroy’s mayoral and City Council campaign.
Wal-Mart sent out last-minute mailers urging residents to vote against union-friendly candidates. Unions spent nearly $12,000 on Correa’s campaign alone and endorsed candidates who were against relocating the existing Wal-Mart. Unions also funded and helped organize a get-out-the-vote group, called Gilroy First!.
“Unions have contacted us about the project from the very beginning,” Durkin said. “I fully expect them to come in and get copies of the EIR and related documents.”
Union lawyers did more than that when Gilroy’s largest residential development began its environmental review. Labor union attorneys filed a 200-page environmental protest against the Glen Loma Ranch housing development and tried to lure the project’s developer, Glen Loma Group, into a binding labor agreement guaranteeing only union workers would be used to build the project’s homes.
Attorney Daniel Cardozo, who is representing the labor unions, said his clients are not involved in any similar effort regarding the Wal-Mart project. And Hill said she has heard of no such action over her company’s project either.
The South Bay AFL-CIO, which represents food and commercial workers, did not return phone calls before deadline. However, unions have protested the Wal-Mart relocation. During the last City Council campaign, union-endorsed candidates said a Wal-Mart Supercenter would unfairly price existing supermarkets out of business, because they don’t offer the benefits and salary packages of their union-staffed competition.
Wal-Mart opponents, who claim bankrupt supermarkets could bring about a domino effect of economic pains to smaller neighboring stores, lobbied City Council unsuccessfully in August. They wanted the city to require Wal-Mart to do an economic version of the environmental impact report.
The City Council in power then voted 4-3 against it. The majority said a 1992 economic impact report on the entire Pacheco Pass Center retail development sufficed.
“Is an economic impact report 11 years later sufficient? No,” Correa said Tuesday.
The existing Wal-Mart site does not figure to stay vacant for long if the store moves, said Bill Lindsteadt, executive director of the Gilroy Economic Development Corporation. Already, Wal-Mart has signed a contract to sell the existing Arroyo Circle building and land to an undisclosed party on condition City Council approves the Supercenter.
What business will rent out the existing site is unknown.
“It’s still about a year away, so it’s just too early to tell,” Lindsteadt said.
Wal-Mart’s hearing in front of City Council will be in February, barring something unforeseen. At that time, Council will look at the EIR and all relevant public comments to that study. Council can then approve or deny the project, Durkin said.
If the project is approved, Council must sign a document stating they accept air quality will be impacted by the project. Traffic from a Wal-Mart Supercenter with 986 parking spaces would result in the emission of 132.4 pounds per day of nitrous oxide fumes, compared to the state threshold of 80 pounds.
“That’s not rare. The whole Bay Area is out of (compliance),” Durkin said. “I don’t think you can deny this project on an environmental basis. I believe this EIR is solid, and we examined all the environmental issues.”
