Big-box debate continues

<p>Supporters and opponents of a proposed Petaluma retail center anchored by Target and Friedman's Home Improvement are expected to come out in force to tonight's planning commission meeting.</p><!-- Nothing to do. The paragraph has already been output --><p>The meeting is a continuation of a public hearing that started Nov. 24 and lasted until midnight before commissioners rescheduled further discussion and a vote on the controversial proposal.</p><p>Commissioners are set to make recommendations to the City Council on the East Washington Place shopping center project, a proposal by Regency Centers at the former Kenilworth Junior High School site.</p><p>Up for discussion are the adequacy of the project's final environmental impact report, its parcel map and architectural review of the 362,000-square-foot proposal, which would be anchored by Target on one end and a Friedman's Home Improvement store on the other.</p><p>The commission 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>The City Council is tentatively set to hold a public hearing on the EIR certification at its Jan. 4 meeting.</p><p>Despite some public opposition to the big-box nature of the development, the project appears to have support of a majority of the City Council, particularly with the addition of Santa Rosa-based Friedman's.</p><p>The council and other planners can require developers to meet any number of conditions for final approval. The EIR notes several environmental impacts the project would have, but says most of them can be mitigated.</p><p>Impacts described as significant and unavoidable include those related to air quality and traffic. The site sits adjacent to Highway 101 along busy East Washington Street in central Petaluma.</p><p>Since it was initially proposed in 2004, the shopping center plan has sparked debate over big-box stores and the lack of some shopping opportunities in Petaluma.</p><p>Members of the Petaluma Neighborhood Association, who oppose the project on various grounds, and Target supporters, who say the city needs the additional retail outlets and its sales tax revenue, are expected to show up for tonight's meeting.</p><p>The announcement that Friedman's had signed a letter of intent to become another tenant came just hours before the Nov. 24 meeting. Some opponents of the project have argued that such a huge new tenant would change the potential overall impacts of the proposal and that the environmental review needs to be redone.</p><p>As proposed, a 139,000-square-foot Target would sit on the largest parcel. The Friedman's store, nursery and lumber drive-through would take up an additional 100,000 square feet. Other smaller food and retail shops are envisioned for the center shopping zone, with 16,000 square feet of office space on the second floor.</p><p>The meeting begins at 6 p.m. tonight at Petaluma City Hall, 11 English St.</p><p>You can reach Staff Writer Lori A. Carter at 762-7297 or lori.carter@pressdemocrat.com.</p>