Wal-Mart plan looks headed for rejection

A planner's memo says the proposed center's traffic would tax intersections despite planned changes

Wednesday, August 03, 2005
CATHERINE TREVISON
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GRESHAM -- The city of Gresham is likely to deny Wal-Mart's application to build a controversial supercenter near Powell Boulevard and Southeast 182nd Avenue. The store's traffic would probably overwhelm several nearby intersections, according to a memo the city released Tuesday, despite Wal-Mart's promise to spend about $2 million on road and traffic improvement.

At Wal-Mart's request, the city will delay its decision for about two weeks. That gives Wal-Mart's consultants at Pacland time to see whether they can fix the problems, said Gresham Senior Development Transportation Planner Jim Wheeler.

Wal-Mart needs a decision by Aug. 16 because of obligations it has to the owner of the Powell Boulevard property, Wheeler said.

"At this point, there's no telling what Pacland and Wal-Mart will do," said Javon Gilmore, spokeswoman for GreshamFirst, a group opposing Wal-Mart's Powell Boulevard proposal.

A lawyer who represents Wal-Mart in Oregon could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Both Wal-Mart and its opponents can appeal Wheeler's final decision -- first to the city hearings officer and later to the state Land Use Board of Appeals, the Oregon Court of Appeals and Oregon Supreme Court. The hearings officer's decision would have to be complete by Oct. 29 to meet the deadline established by state land-use law, Wheeler said.

GreshamFirst is also encouraging the city to adopt a big-box ordinance that would require large new stores to prove they would help the city economically.

Most of the controversy around the proposed Gresham Wal-Mart has centered on traffic. The supercenter was planned with parking for at least 878 cars, most of it on two levels below the store. During the peak Saturday shopping hour, it was expected to generate 1,105 car trips.

The resulting furor generated more public comment than any in the city's history, planners said. The city counted roughly 1,181 comments, most opposing the store, along with an anti-project petition containing about 6,290 signatures.

One of the most serious problems laid out in Wheeler's memo was at the intersection at Powell Boulevard and Southeast 182nd Avenue. The intersection would jam with the extra traffic, the city said.

Wal-Mart's traffic study did not show the intersection failing to meet city standards. But DKS Engineering reviewed the study for the city with similar but updated computer software and information, Wheeler's report said. Under the DKS review, the intersection failed.

"That's why it's really important to not simply take information from the developer," Gilmore said. "It's really important that the city does their own independent review. That's what they did, and why they're coming up with different data."

GreshamFirst also hired a traffic engineer, Rick Nys of Greenlight Engineering, to perform a traffic analysis for the city.

Wal-Mart's consultants had recommended easing traffic at Powell Boulevard and Southeast 182nd Avenue by allowing drivers to make "permitted" left turns on flashing yellow arrows when they did not see oncoming traffic. Wheeler said these kinds of turns wouldn't be allowed because the accident rate at the intersection is already unacceptably high, with 87 crashes from 1999 to 2003.

The DKS review also looked at the problem of traffic "spillback," where cars are backed up so far at one intersection that they keep cars at nearby intersections from moving. During the afternoon traffic peak, the backed-up cars on Southwest Highland Drive trying to head north across Powell Boulevard would block the intersection at Southeast 11th Street 18 percent of the time, DKS said.

Wheeler discussed problems at a number of other intersections. But he did not accept an argument made by Metro: that Wal-Mart should not be allowed to consume road capacity that could accommodate expected growth in Pleasant Valley, Damascus and Boring.

City standards say that a developer only has to mitigate problems created at the time it opens "in full service," Wheeler said. Even if the Wal-Mart were approved, development in Pleasant Valley wouldn't happen until later, he said.

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