Gresham says no to Wal-Mart

by: Kelly Moyer-Wade - 08/17/05
http://www.theoutlookonline.com/article/8237

The city of Gresham has denied Wal-Mart’s proposal to build a supercenter near the intersection of 182nd Avenue and Powell Boulevard.

“It’s about traffic,” said Ed Gallagher, Gresham’s community development director. “While a number of concerns about the development were raised, the issue of traffic could not be resolved.”
Jim Wheeler, a senior planner for Gresham, was in charge of evaluating the Wal-Mart application.

Wheeler said the city rarely denies this type of permit and that traffic is not a common reason for denial.

“Most of the time there (is) reasonable mitigation,” Wheeler said. He said the city deemed Wal-Mart’s traffic mitigation ideas unacceptable.

The company proposed building a 220,000-square-foot supercenter plus four smaller retail shops and underground parking for more than 900 cars at the former QFC site off Powell Boulevard.

A traffic study, commissioned by the city of Gresham, showed the supercenter would generate more than 1,100 new cars during peak hours on Saturday and put 9 percent more traffic through the already-congested intersection at 182nd Avenue and Powell Boulevard.

Wal-Mart proposed several ways to alleviate traffic congestion, most notably a plan to offer permitted left turns (taking a left without a green arrow on a regular green light, while yielding to oncoming traffic) at the Powell/182nd intersection.

“The city decided this would not work,” Wheeler said Tuesday. Allowing this type of unprotected left turn would endanger pedestrians and increase already high accident rates, Wheeler said.

“(The intersection) is one of the city’s top 10 over a period of time for accident rates,” Wheeler said.

Jay McCoy, a senior engineer with Gresham’s Department of Environmental Services, said the intersection is known for its high number of accidents.

“The option given by (Wal-Mart) to modify the intersection is known to increase crash potential and, for that reason, is not an acceptable alternative with the present application,” McCoy said.

Eric Berger, a Wal-Mart spokesman, said his company still believes the former QFC site is suitable. “We knew, based on input from the community, that traffic was a concern, but we felt that, based on our review of the city’s code and ODOT standards, that we addressed those issues sufficiently,” Berger said.

The company has 12 days to appeal the city’s decision, and Wheeler said he expects an appeal.

Berger said his company still feels the site is the best possible place for a Gresham supercenter.

He said the city’s decision doesn’t necessarily mean it’s over for Wal-Mart.

“We’ll review (the decision) and internally make a decision as to what our next step will be,” Berger said.

Asked if his company had other Gresham sites in mind, Berger said an alternate site is “an option,” but that Wal-Mart is “still considering (its) options related to this application.”

The company would appeal to the city’s hearings officer first, which would kick in the city’s public hearing process.
Ultimately, the company could appeal the hearings officer’s decision to the state’s Land Use Board of Appeals.
If an appeal is filed, Wheeler said he expects a public hearing would be held before the end of September.

In the nine months since Wal-Mart announced its intentions for the Gresham site, thousands of activists have come out against the proposal.

In early July, the city received a record-setting 1,181 comments regarding the Wal-Mart application — most of which were against the retail giant’s plans — plus a petition penned by anti-Wal-Mart activist group GreshamFirst that included 6,290 signatures.

Javon Gilmore, campaign coordinator for GreshamFirst, thanked activists for their efforts and said they need to stay vigilant in case Wal-Mart appeals the city’s decision. “As we celebrate a victory during this phase of the permit application process, we must also look ahead to the next steps,” Gilmore said.