Cottage Grove council to rule on Wal-Mart store expansion.

Byline: Karen McCowan The Register-Guard

COTTAGE GROVE - The City Council is scheduled to vote tonight on Wal-Mart's requested zoning rule changes to build a bigger box - with a full grocery department - at its location here.

The Cottage Grove Planning Commission unanimously recommended denial of the discount retailer's application to expand its 81,000-square-foot store, which is just east of Interstate 5.

Commission members said the proposed 160,000-square-foot "superstore" would violate conditions of the city's 1994 approval of the existing store - such as guaranteeing a building with a "footprint" no larger than 105,000 square feet and buffered along Row River Road by smaller, tourism-related businesses.

They said it would alter the character of the "tourism-commercial" neighborhood if the city were to allow Wal-Mart to build such a large store and expand its parking lot all the way to Row River Road.

But that was before the Arkansas-based chain proposed a compromise at the beginning of a City Council public hearing April 30.

A lawyer for the company presented scaled-back plans - including a 7 percent reduction in floor space - designed to address some of the planning commission's concerns. They included a 150,000-square-foot superstore and a smaller parking lot, with Wal-Mart providing 30,000 square feet for other retail operations along Row River Road.

The proposal delighted one opponent of the company's original proposal, who ripped up his planned testimony as he stood at the podium. Instead, he praised the discount giant for responding to community concerns. Then he suggested some examples of "tourism-related" retail for the buffering buildings: tourist information, real estate offices, bike repair and rental, art and craft shops, and local organic food sales.

Other opponents, however, said the council should weigh only the original application, which both the city's planning staff and planning commission found unacceptable. Wal-Mart shouldn't be able to amend its proposal as it goes, they said, creating a moving target for city officials.

But several council members apparently saw things differently.

"This looks to me like a middle ground," Councilor Robert Hunt said of the modified proposal. He then moved to send it back to the city's planning staff for evaluation. The motion passed unanimously.

A planning staff report on the modified proposal was not available late last week. But City Manager Richard Meyers said city staff sees nothing improper in allowing Wal-Mart to adjust its proposal in the course of seeking approval. The city routinely considers such compromises, he said, offering a hypothetical example of a homeowner applying for a fence permit.

"Let's say we required two feet of lattice work on the top, and we turned them down because their proposal didn't have it," he said. `If they came back and said, `I've added the lattice work, but here's why it should only be 1 1/2 feet,' we'd consider that as part of the same application.'

Councilors also made a point of recognizing dozens of the local store's employees and supporters who attended the April 30 meeting. Many wore bright yellow T-shirts touting Wal-Mart, which has become a lightning rod for criticism by labor and anti-corporate activists.

"Whether you think Wal-Mart's the evil empire or not, these people in the yellow shirts here tonight are not," Councilor Wayne Clark said.

WAL-MART VOTE

City Council to rule on requested expansion to 150,000 square feet from 81,000 square feet

When: 7:30 p.m. today

Where: Cottage Grove City Hall, 400 E. Main St.

Information: 942-5501