Wal-Mart ready to argue it belongs in AmCan

Home » News » Local

Saturday, March 17, 2007

Comment

By KERANA TODOROV, Register Staff Writer

Four months after a court blocked construction of a Wal-Mart Supercenter in American Canyon, lawyers for the retail giant say they have done the necessary studies to comply with the law.

A public review of the studies, however, is being postponed.

Work on the Wal-Mart project screeched to a halt in November after the First District Court of Appeal in San Francisco ruled the city of American Canyon had violated California's environmental laws when it approved the store off Highway 29 two years ago. In its decision, the court overruled Napa County Superior Court Judge Raymond Guadagni's 2005 decision in favor of Wal-Mart.

Brett Jolley, an attorney for American Canyon United for Responsible Growth, one of the two groups who sued Wal-Mart, this week said his clients "would like to see a full (EIR)" on the project, referring to an in-depth environmental document.

Wal-Mart' lawyers, however, said the city has re-analyzed the project approval in accordance with the Court of Appeal's decision and has prepared studies on the traffic and urban decay impacts of the store within and outside the city limits, according to court documents.

The American Canyon Planning Commission was expected to reconsider Wal-Mart's application at a public meeting scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday. Documents related to the project could be examined at city offices, according to the public notice for the public meeting published March 10.

That meeting is delayed until March 29, City Attorney Bill Ross said.

Sandra Cleisz, American Canyon's interim planning director, said the documents -- including the new traffic study and an urban decay study -- were "undergoing final review."

In a letter to Ross, Jolley requested the hearing be postponed in part because the court has not yet ruled on the proceedings.

Jolley also opposes construction to continue, according to court briefs.

Napa County Superior Court Visiting Judge J. Michael Byrne in February agreed that work on Napa Junction Road and other safety-related improvements near the store could proceed. He later agreed that PG&E could be provide power for the building's fire sprinkler system.

5 comment(s)

Penny Pawl wrote on Mar 17, 2007 10:14 AM:

" Just what would the city of American Canyon do with this building if they win their case? "

bounced around wrote on Mar 17, 2007 1:33 PM:

" maybe now napa junction road will be fixed. "

Westy wrote on Mar 17, 2007 2:03 PM:

" Make the building the high school and give us back our school bond money! "

Say union no wrote on Mar 17, 2007 10:25 PM:

" American Canyon United for Responsible Growth- who are they? They have never been identified and no one knows who they are. This is about the union's and Save Mart and Food 4 Less being affraid of competition. There is no organized "American Canyon United for Responsible Growth". If you report on anything report on the unions influence in this case and the one in Suisun and the one in Red Bluff and Chico, you see Brett Jolley is sending his kids to school based on suing Wal-Mart and the communities where Wal-Mart is building Super Centers. Then the courts are legislating from the bench, since there is no law requiring extra studies for Super Centers. Only in liberal California. Googl the name Brett Jolley and see what you find "

Jorge wrote on Mar 19, 2007 9:31 AM:

" "Say union no" proves conclusively that American Canyon United for Responsible Growth hired a lawyer who has experience doing what they hired him to do--shocking! On a serious note, I sympathize with big box opponnents, but we need to look at long-term proactive organizing. Petaluma, for example, just started an Independent Business Alliance to support independent, locally-owned business and prevent big box chains from overrunning the community. "

Join the conversation

*Member ID:
*Password:
Remember login? (requires cookies)
	Forgot Your Password?

Create an account

Comment Guidelines

The goal of the story comments section at NapaValleyRegister.com is to have an open, thought-provoking, civil community forum for all issues.

What gets your comment posted?

• Staying on topic

• Keeping your comment to 300 words or less

• Avoiding name-calling

• Addressing your comments to the message rather than the messenger

What gets your comment deleted?

• Personal attacks

• Derogatory remarks

• Name-calling of any sort

• Going off-topic

• Hate speech

• Racially-insensitive comments

• Implying guilt of a subject in a crime story before there is a court verdict

• Posting e-mail addresses

• Posting comments of a commercial nature

• POSTING WITH ALL CAPITAL LETTERS

• Linking multiple comments together with "to be continued..." to get around the 300 word limit.

The fine print

- Comments are either approved or denied. We do not edit comments.

- You are welcome to modify and resubmit a denied comment.

- Comments may take several hours to be posted.

- Comments posted are those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of NapaValleyRegister.com, its employees or its parent company.

- Do you have information on a story? Please go to our virtual newsroom to send us a news tip.

- If you feel a posted comment has violated our guidelines, please contact online@napanews.com or add a comment indicating you have an issue and our moderators will review the comment in question.

Search: