Petaluma council delays Target vote

<p>Myriad concerns expressed by the community and a majority of Petaluma City Council members led to a decision to delay action on environmental impacts of the Target shopping center planned along Highway 101.</p><!-- Nothing to do. The paragraph has already been output --><p>City staffers were given until Jan. 25 to address the concerns. The 4-3 vote followed a five-hour hearing that lasted into early Tuesday.</p><p>Dissenting council members said that further study could push back completion of the project and postpone when the cash-strapped city would start seeing tax revenues from the new businesses.</p><p>The Regency Centers proposal calls for a 364,000-square-foot retail center, including a Target store and a Friedman's home improvement store. The project is slated for East Washington Street, at the old Kenilworth Junior High School site alongside the highway.</p><p>The new businesses are expected to bring the city more than $1 million annually in taxes.</p><p>The issue attracted an overflow crowd to the council chambers at City Hall and dozens spoke Monday night.</p><p>The hearing also was the first time that council members commented publicly on the project.</p><p>The council "gave us a pretty lengthy list of items they were interested in having added as conditions of approval . . . or changes made to the project," City Manager John Brown said Tuesday.</p><p>Issues raised included landscaping design, use of recycled water, traffic and noise.</p><p>"What we clearly heard last night was a great deal on the part of the council and community that what goes forward is something we can all be proud of," Brown said.</p><p>Councilman Mike Harris, who voted against delaying the decision, said he believed many of the concerns already were addressed in the environmental report.</p><p>"Some of it still has to be worked out . . . but we can move forward," Harris said.</p><p>A Regency spokesman Monday night said developers were hoping to open the center in October 2011.</p><p>"That's great. It gives us certainty in our budget," Harris said. Delays by the council "could push them to a whole other season."</p><p>Council members Mike Healy and David Rabbit voted with Harris.</p><p>Favoring the delay were Mayor Pamela Torliatt and Council members Teresa Barrett, David Glass and Tiffany Renée.</p><p>The next step, if the EIR is approved at the Jan. 25 meeting, is design review approval. The council asked staff to set a hearing as soon as Jan. 26.</p><p>Plans for the huge chunk of land have been percolating for about five years.</p><p>As proposed, a 139,000-square-foot Target would sit on the largest parcel. A Friedman's store, nursery and lumber drive-through would fill another 100,000 square feet. Smaller food and retail shops are planned for the center shopping area, with 16,000 square feet of office space in a two-story structure near the entrance.</p><p>You can reach Staff Writer Randi Rossmann at 521-5412 or randi.rossmann@pressdemocrat.com.</p>