Draft Environmental Report on Walmart Expansion Released—10 Months Late

At last! It’s arrived. 

Yes, the long-awaited draft environmental impact report examining an expansion of the existing store to 193,000 square feet from the existing 142,000 square feet has been posted on the city of Poway’s website, and both supporters and opponents are busy studying the details.

The first volume includes a second volume containing a plethora of technical studies ranging from air quality to traffic.

It was prepared by a Yorba Linda-based consulting firm, and came in 10 months later than first promised.

The expansion, which has been on the drawing board for several years, would allow the Arkansas-based mega retailer to sell a much larger selection of groceries and other perishables at the 16.5-acre site on Community Road near Poway Road.

The 1,900 pages look closely at the financial impact on surrounding retail stores of such an expansion, including existing grocery stores, 10 in all.

Joe St. Lucas, head of , or No WE, said his group is studying the report, posted online midmorning April 28, and said he immediately focused on the section on traffic impacts.

In his first review, he said he saw nothing startling in his first pass, but he would have to drill down deeper.

“Basically, (it says) the impact of an expanded store is not as if we started from scratch and didn’t have a store already there,” he said. “We already have traffic congestion in the area of Community and Poway roads, so something is going to have to be done with that.”

The EIR said the expanded store would generate $33.9 million in grocery sales each year, but noted that the expanded store could take as much as $13.2 million in sales from existing stores in the city.

But the draft EIR noted that the stores could sustain the loss of business to a competitor.

“It is unlikely that the development of the supermarket component of the proposed Walmart expansion would cause any supermarkets to close,” said the document.

“The report says the economic impact would hurt other supermarkets” as a result of the new store going in, noted St. Lucas. “But how do you know this?”

“How the heck can you take whatever money is flowing into three grocery stores—, and —and spread around on four stores with someone not suffering?” he asked. “That just doesn’t make sense.”

The EIR did note that the city staff felt that the nearby Von’s store could be hurt by a bigger, better Walmart store, leading to the potential of “urban decay.” The store has a dated and “tired” appearance said the report, and that “traffic seems sparse” compared to nearby competing stores.

But that and more issues will have to be discussed over the next 45 days of public input. The draft report could be amended or changed after the public has had a chance to weigh in.

Meanwhile, the draft report looks at the possible impacts in detail, and sometimes the impacts won’t be noticeable at all.

Surprisingly, the report said it didn’t expect taxable sales to increase significantly with an expansion, since most of the sales would come from non-taxable groceries.

But it said the expanded store had the potential to generate an addition $31,500 in sales tax revenues, after adding and subtracting a number of assumptions, given sales in other departments of the store.

“We’re pleased we’re at the draft report stage, and looking forward to the continued process till it comes before City Council,” said Luanne Hulsizer, president and CEO of the . “We have not taken a position on it.”

She said she would read it, or at last scan through it, as part of her duties to the members.

“This has been an issue for almost four years, so I need to do my due diligence so that if any of our members have questions, we’ll be available to discuss it with them.”

will schedule two public meetings to go over the documents with residents, and then take comments from residents who attend the gatherings.

The City Council could ask for changes to be included in a final report before they approve or reject the findings, and go on to consider the actual expansion proposal. 

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the parent company of the local Walmart store, is paying for the EIR. Calls to the corporate headquarters were not returned as of midday April 28.

It’s most likely that City Council won’t tackle the controversial document until the fall, said local observers.

Dave Grosch, who was elected to the City Council and who , said he would start tackling the lengthy document in a few days.

He said he’s seen similar reports prepared for other projects in other cities, and found the reading to be “quite monstrous.”

“I hear we’ll need to get a wheel barrel,” he said, noting that the important stuff is often buried in the fine print and other detail.

“It’s going to take me some time to get through this,” Grosch said, noting that the city will be taking comments on the draft report for the next 45 days, so he has time to dig in. “It will probably take me that long to read it, but I will read it.”