Petaluma planning commission puts off Target decision

<p>After a marathon meeting that lasted past midnight, Petaluma planning commissioners early Wednesday postponed making any recommendations on the controversial East Washington Place shopping center project until next month.</p><p>Commissioners were scheduled to consider the final environmental impact report, parcel map and architectural review of the 362,000-square-foot site, which would be anchored by Target on one end and Friedman’s Home Improvement on the other.</p><p>They could approve the EIR and recommend the City Council certify it, determine that the analysis isn’t adequate or send it on without a recommendation.</p><p>But as the clock neared midnight, following a 2 1/2 hour presentation by project developers and a handful of comments from the public — and more than 3 hours’ discussion on a different project — commissioners called it a night.</p><p>They will take up the issue again at 6 p.m. on Dec. 8 so the developers and members of public, many of whom had left the six-hour meeting earlier, can continue discussion of the project.</p><p>The City Council will make a final determination on the East Washington Place project, which would be the largest retail development in the city in years. Since it was first proposed in 2004, the shopping center plan has sparked debate over big-box stores and the dearth of some shopping opportunities in Petaluma.</p><p>The announcement of Friedman’s potential return to Petaluma after 30 years came just hours before the meeting. Although it would be a huge addition to the project, it wasn’t mentioned by developers or planning commissioners during the lengthy discussion.</p><p>Bob Haroche, who identified himself as an attorney with the Santa Rosa law firm Beyers-Costin, warned commissioners that the addition of Friedman’s and its proposed 40,000-square-foot drive-through lumber yard should halt the project’s progress.</p><p>A Friedman’s store would “fundamentally change this project,” he said. “It means that the EIR, by definition, analyzed a different project, not the one that’s before you tonight.”</p><p>He said a judge halted the construction of a shopping center in Bakersfield in 2004 after a proposal similarly changed after city approval.</p><p>Petaluma “should not open itself up to litigation over this inadequate EIR when it has knowledge right now that the project that’s proposed is not the project that will be built out,” he said.</p><p>It was unclear who Haroche or his firm represents. He couldn’t be reached Wednesday for comment.</p><p>It was also unclear what Friedman’s agreement with East Washington Place developers might mean for a different proposed development, on North McDowell Avenue, that could include a Lowe’s Home Improvement store.</p><p>David Proctor, Friedman’s chief operating officer, said Wednesday that his company hasn’t been guaranteed a lock on the home-improvement business in town.</p><p>Mayor Pam Torliatt in the past has raised the issue of creating a “home improvement district” zoning restriction, similar to what the city did for Basin Street developers who built the city’s theater district. Without the restrictions, which reduce competition, the funding may not have been possible for that project.</p><p>“This is a big project for a company our size,” Proctor said. “We would love the aspect of having some sense of less risk. But as far as the city giving any assurances, no promises have been made.”</p><p>He said he hopes Friedman’s will be the first home-improvement store in town, and that consumers will decide they don’t need a second.</p><p>“But we’re not about to tell the people of Petaluma what they can and cannot do,” he said.</p><p>Tuesday night’s meeting drew several dozen residents, including several who wore red buttons that read “Support Target.” A handful of speakers urged the commission to rule the EIR didn’t fully analyze traffic, pollution and neighborhood concerns.</p><p>The developers, Regency Centers, want to build 362,000 square feet of retail space and 16,000 square feet of offices on the 34-acre site it bought in 2004. The largest parcel would incorporate a proposed 139,000-square-foot Target store. Friedman’s would account for about another 100,000 square feet.</p><p>The site, which once housed Kenilworth Junior High School, is vacant except for baseball fields. It sits along East Washington Street between the Sonoma-Marin County Fairgrounds and Highway 101.</p><p>An economic impact report estimates the project would create more than 720 permanent jobs and provide the city with about $1.5 million in annual sales- and property-tax revenue.</p><p>The city is in the midst of trying to decide how to cut $2.2 million from the current year’s budget to meet reduced revenues. City leaders are considering laying off workers and seeking pay cuts from union workers to balance the budget.</p>