Rohnert Park council sets special meeting on Wal-Mart expansion

The Rohnert Park City Council will hold a special meeting to hear Wal-Mart's request to delay the progress of the company's proposed expansion of its Redwood Drive store so that the public can have more time to review and evaluate the plan.

The meeting is set for Monday at 6 p.m. Officials have already said it is almost certain the request will be granted and planning staff have recommended its approval.

Wal-Mart wants to expand the store to include a grocery. Opponents say that would violate the city's general plan and have also criticized the company's labor practices.

The city's Planning Commission approved the environmental impact report for the project in January. Opponents then appealed the decision, arguing that the report was both incorrect and inadequate and that it hadn't been circulated properly to the public.

But before the council took up the appeal, Wal-Mart asked for the report to be put out for review - partly in an attempt to derail the appeal.

If the council agrees, the environmental report would be circulated for 45 days and then the project would return to the Planning Commission for another public hearing.

City staff previously did not require the report to be circulated for 45 days because they said it had not changed substantially from an earlier version.

- Jeremy Hay