Supercenter approval runs into opposition

Not even Wal-Mart is happy with the Planning Commission's recent approval of a 226,868-square-foot Supercenter and nearly a dozen other retailers in southwest Lodi.

A firm associated with the retail giant was among two to appeal the commission's Dec. 8 approval of the project's environmental report, use permit and tentative parcel map to City Council, said Community Development Director Konradt Bartlam. Doucet & Associates, a Roseville-based civil engineering firm, is contesting two conditions tacked on by the commission, including one that requires Wal-Mart to lease its existing store before it can receive a building permit for the Supercenter.

Meanwhile, Stockton-based law firm Herum Crabtree Brown on Friday filed a second appeal on behalf of Lodi First, which attorney Steven Herum refers to as a local citizen's group. Herum claims the environmental study approved by the city does not sufficiently address the project's potential impacts on urban decay, pollution and traffic.

"They've simply omitted relevant evaluations of the potential effects," Herum said on Monday.

Herum says he has fought at least 10 Wal-Mart projects across the state in recent years, including one in Bakersfield last year. In that case, he challenged an environmental report on similar grounds and halted the development of a Supercenter along the Highway 99 corridor.

On Monday, a Fifth District Court of Appeals ruled against Bakersfield and Wal-Mart, setting a precedent that Herum believes could have an affect in Lodi.

"It is an appellate court published opinion that can be cited as authority," Herum said. "There is a lot of overlap between (Lodi and Bakersfield's) Environmental Impact Reports. Wal-Mart tends to have the same people do the same EIRs each time."

Officials with Wal-Mart and Browman Development Co. could not be reached by the News-Sentinel's Monday deadline.

Herum is the sole spokesperson for Lodi First. He would not say who or how many people the group represents.

While Herum's appeal contests the environmental report, Doucet's is more concerned with the conditions added by the commission, Bartlam said. One was the requirement that the existing Wal-Mart have a new tenant before a building permit for the Supercenter is issued.

"They don't want to restrict the building permit," Bartlam said. "They think that's too restrictive."

The appeal also cites a recommendation that the city's housing element include a study detailing the effects a Supercenter would have on affordable housing needs in Lodi, Bartlam said.

The City Council is expected to hear the appeals on Jan. 19, Bartlam said. He said it is not common to see opposite sides of an issue appeal a commission's decision.

"Perhaps we've done our job," Bartlam said. "We've made no one happy."

Contact Business Editor Greg Kane at gregk@lodinews.com.