Proposed Roseland Wal-Mart hits snag

<p>A Sonoma County judge has sided with opponents of a proposed Wal-Mart in Santa Rosa, tentatively ruling that the environmental study for the proposed store is flawed.</p><p>Superior Court Judge Robert Boyd said the analysis of parking and noise for the Wal-Mart in southwest Santa Rosa is "especially problematic."</p><p>Boyd's ruling is not final, and on Friday he gave attorneys on both sides another chance to present arguments before he completes his decision.</p><p>After hearing from opponents of the store and attorneys for both Wal-Mart and the city of Santa Rosa, Boyd said he would take the matter under submission.</p><p>He noted the environmental document for the store makes it "hard for the public to determine what is being proposed."</p><p>It was not immediately clear what impact Boyd's ruling would have if it becomes final.</p><p>Stephen Kostka, the attorney representing the city of Santa Rosa, said outside the courtroom that it will be up to the City Council to decide how to proceed.</p><p>If the environmental study had to be redone, it would further delay the construction of the store, which Wal-Mart had hoped to open this year.</p><p>Five Santa Rosa residents with financial backing from labor and social advocacy groups filed the lawsuit last year seeking to overturn the approval of the Wal-Mart planned in the Roseland neighborhood.</p><p>The 24-hour Wal-Mart store would replace a former home improvement store and a former drugstore in the Stony Point Plaza Shopping Center.</p><p>Critics said the environmental study failed to adequately address a half-dozen issues, particularly traffic and noise.</p><p>Activists also mentioned Wal-Mart's "predatory business and labor practices," alluding to the discount giant's anti-union stance, complaints of low pay and skimpy benefits for employees, and pricing that undercuts competitors and drives them out of business.</p><p>Supporters, however, said Wal-Mart would help revitalize the Stony Point Shopping Center, create 250 to 300 jobs, generate $500,000 in annual sales tax revenues and give lower-income residents of the neighborhood a convenient place to shop.</p><p>During the hourlong court hearing on Friday, much of the discussion revolved around discrepancies in the actual number of parking spaces, as well as the issue of how noise would affect adjacent residents.</p><p>Kostka, the attorney for the city, said little had changed on the proposed size of the 106,000-square-foot Wal-Mart.</p><p>But Boyd noted the total project size for the shopping center was listed variously as 210,000 and 198,000 square feet in the environmental documents.</p><p>The total number of parking spaces also varied from 828 to 816.</p><p>"What you're seeing is a constantly changing project description," said William Kopper, the plaintiff's attorney who has filed lawsuits against Wal-Mart projects in more than a half-dozen cities.</p><p>"You can't expect a project to remain static throughout the process," replied Kostka. "This is a case which is about trivialities."</p><p>Attorneys also sparred over a number of noise studies that were cited in the environmental document.</p><p>Alicia Donahue, an attorney for Wal-Mart, said the company had agreed that there would be no noise above 45 decibels coming from the store equipment and operations. "That's what most people in Santa Rosa enjoy inside their homes," she said.</p><p>But the attorney for the plaintiffs insisted the forklifts and diesel delivery trucks would exceed those levels and be a problem for his clients, some of whom live in the adjacent Casa Del Sol town homes.</p><p>You can reach Staff Writer Clark Mason at 521-5214 or clark.mason@pressdemocrat.com.</p>