City says more studies needed on Lowe's center

<p>The developers of the proposed Lowe's shopping center in east Petaluma say the project's expected opening date has been pushed back due to a new economic study required by the city.</p><p>The study, which the city's planning department recently determined is needed under state environmental laws, will find out “whether the project will cause blight and urban decay,” by pushing other stores out of business, said Derek Farmer, a planner with M-Group, the city's privately contracted planning department.</p><p>The shopping center — which is called Deer Creek Village and is set to include Lowe's home improvement and other retail and dining — was originally due to be heard by the Planning Commission for the first time in late summer, but will now be heard in November, after the study is completed.</p><p>According to the developers of the project — San-Francisco based Merlone Geier Partners — that delay means that June 2012 may now be a more realistic opening date. The developers originally hoped to open the project in spring 2011 and recently were aiming for October 2011.</p><p>“We feel confident that any additional economic analysis will only confirm previous studies that revealed that the project will be an economic benefit for the city,” said Marko Mlikotin, a spokesperson for Merlone Geier.</p><p>The study, which will cost between $10,000 and $20,000, will accomplish a “greater degree of certainty” on the impacts of the project and provide “a comprehensive review from many angles,” said Farmer.</p><p>“Every time we do any CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act) document, we are aware of the fact that it could be legally challenged,” said city planner Geoff Bradley. “You want it to stand up to scrutiny.”</p><p>The Deer Creek project will be built without an environmental impact report, a document required of most developments, because the impacts of the project were laid out in the city's General Plan, which anticipated a shopping center at the site.</p><p>Although an overall EIR was not needed, the planning department determined additional impacts, and commissioned a report on traffic generated by the center in March.</p><p>A fiscal and economic impact analysis report released in March 2009 reveled that the 120,000 square-foot center would create 800 jobs and about $1 million annually in sales tax revenue for the city.</p><p>The new study will go beyond the findings of the FEIA to investigate the possibility of “blight” specifically.</p><p>“In the beginning we were hoping we could rely on (the FEIA),” said Bradley.</p><p>Mlikotin said that the FEIA included an analysis of impacts on nearby stores and that Petaluma has no home improvement store that Lowe's would compete with.</p><p>“We are particularly anxious to move forward,” he said. “Any future delays come at the expense of people that are looking for work.”</p><p>The city plans to select a consultant this week to do the study.</p><p>(Contact Philip Riley at philip.riley@arguscourier.com)</p>