Wal-Mart application incomplete

Wal-Mart submitted its application to build a retail complex at the southwest corner of Cedar Hills Boulevard and Barnes in Cedar Mill to the City of Beaverton in late June, 2005. In late July, the City deemed the application “incomplete” and asked Wal-Mart to submit additional information. Areas deemed incomplete included parking and traffic issues.

Save Cedar Mill, the organization opposing the proposed Wal-Mart store, had its professional team submit information to county and state agencies during this time, detailing some of the group’s chief concerns about the application and its completeness.

Once Wal-Mart submits the additional information and the application is deemed complete, the City will have 120 days to render a decision whether to approve or deny the application. The first city agency to review and act on the application will be the Board of Design Review, which will hold a public hearing. It is expected that the Board’s decision either way will be appealed to the Beaverton City Council, which will also hold a public hearing. In the meantime, the public record is now open. Citizens are encouraged to write to the City with their opinions and concerns about the proposed development.

The proposed complex includes a 152,308-square-foot Wal-Mart store, a separate 4,297-square-foot office/retail building and another 9,915-square-foot retail building on the approximately nine-acre site owned by J. Peterkort and Company. By the time the store would open in 2007, it would add about 7400 new vehicle trips to the area every day.

Amendments to House Bill 3310 offered by our State Representative Charlie Ringo would have forced the city of Beaverton to consider issues such as compatibility in making its decision. These amendments were stripped from the bill during the last days of the 2005 session, however. Neighborhood compatibility is not an approval criterion in the Beaverton Development Code for Design Review applications. Beaverton is using Washington County’s Transit Oriented-Retail/Commerical (TO-RC) zoning of the land which allows retail uses greater than 5,000 square feet.

While waiting for the application to be completed, Save Cedar Mill (savecedarmill.com) continues its fundraising, public awareness, and outreach efforts throughout the Beaverton, Cedar Hills, Bethany, and Cedar Mill area. The group has raised nearly $25,000 so far, largely to pay for a land use attorney and a traffic engineer.

More information is available on the City of Beaverton website at beavertonoregon.gov/departments/CDD/CDD_walmartfaqs.html

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