Plan to build Wal-Mart store takes step forward

A store official and others will meet with neighbors of the Powell Boulevard site proposed for a supercenter
Tuesday, January 04, 2005

CATHERINE TREVISON
The Oregonian

GRESHAM -- Developers will take another step toward a new Wal-Mart in Gresham by meeting later this month with neighbors of the proposed site at Southeast 182nd Avenue and Powell Boulevard.

"We want to move forward with a store there . . . because we feel that we have a lot of existing and potential customers in the area that can be well served by that location," Eric Berger, Wal-Mart's regional community affairs manager, said Monday.

The development engineering firm Pacland is working on arrangements for the meeting. Although tentatively set for 7 p.m. Jan 27 in the former QFC store at the Powell Boulevard site, the location and time could change, Berger said.

The plan has generated controversy among some neighbors who are worried about a supercenter's effect on the local economy or on traffic.

"Most people I've talked to agree . . . that the location is poor for the type of store they want," said Rick Dwyer, president of the Centennial Neighborhood Association.

Gresham makes developers meet with neighbors so they can show in their application how they will address neighborhood concerns. Wal-Mart also sometimes holds such meetings on its own, Berger said, because "the more feedback we receive from the community, the better the development is as a whole."

Pacland submitted preliminary plans last fall for a 203,400-square-foot store with more than 800 parking stalls underneath. The 11.5-acre site would include four additional shops totaling 18,800 square feet.

The store would have about 400 workers, about three-quarters full time, Berger said. Pay starts above minimum wage, Berger said. The average wage in the company's 20 discount stores and seven supercenters in Oregon is about $10 an hour. Both full- and part-time workers are eligible for employer-sponsored health insurance, Berger said.

Centennial, Southwest and Hollybrook neighborhoods will be represented at the meeting, Dwyer said. Berger said he would attend along with Pacland representatives, a traffic engineer and possibly the architect working on the building.

Wal-Mart's proposal would demolish a vacant QFC grocery store that was open for 14 months in 2000 and 2001.

Catherine Trevison: 503-294-5971; ctrevison@news.oregonian.com

Original story located here.