Will Sonoma get a Safeway ‘superstore’?

Three areas of contention, including a wetlands, a proposed gas station and the lack of a housing component, could affect Safeway’s application if they pursue their expansion plans.|

There’s been a Safeway in Sonoma since about 1930, and while it’s expanded a couple times over the years, the supermarket’s latest plan to increase its footprint by 30 percent – and add a discount gas station at one of town’s busiest corners – is not generating much enthusiasm.

Earlier this month the Planning Commission reviewed a proposal to expand the Sonoma Safeway at 477 W. Napa St., a proposal that included the possibility of an 18-pump gas station at the corner of Fifth Street West. While the meeting was a “study session” – a discussion of the general concept and not a response to a specific proposal or permit application – it was a controversial enough topic to bring out a fairly good crowd, and a dozen people rose to comment on the idea.

Three main areas of contention arose, any one of which could affect Safeway’s eventual application if it pursues expansion plans. One is the gas station, another is the protection of a possible wetland area to the east of the current store location. The third is Safeway’s request for a waiver on a residential component – this at a time when the lack of affordable housing has become a hot-button issue throughout the County.

The current Safeway building dates from 1976, when it shared the space with Sprouse-Reitz. When the Sprouse-Reitz chain went out of business in 1995, Safeway expanded into the entire building. The latest remodel was in 2005, said Wendy Gutshall, Safeway’s senior communications and government relations manager, who added that, “Safeway aims to renovate its stores every 10 years to provide for an enhanced shopping experience for both customers and employees.”

The current size of the store is approximately 50,000-square-feet, with a 192-car parking lot in front of the store, and a smaller one – primarily for loading vehicles – behind it. The area is zoned “commercial,” and the total size of the lot is 6.93 acres, composed of three adjacent parcels.

Safeway’s representative Paul O’Sullivan of Forecast Energy, a Valley resident who is a planning consultant for Safeway, proposed a “project narrative” for a 15,000-square-foot expansion to the east of the current building, plus additional parking on that side and in front of the expanded building.

“Safeway’s goal is to modernize the design and equipment in existing departments, improve backroom layout and efficiency, and expand our produce offering in response to evolving consumer demands,” Gutshall told the Index-Tribune via email. She said this would make the Sonoma Safeway about the same size as the Petaluma Safeway in Washington Square, at 389 S. McDowell Blvd.

Though Safeway doesn’t formally have a “superstore” category, as do other big-box retailers such as WalMart, Staples and Sears, superstores are generally defined as greater than 50,000-square-feet. Judging from the Petaluma Safeway, a 65,000-square-foot Safeway in Sonoma would feature more of the same – both stores have in-house bakeries, Starbucks, Jamba Juice and Signature Café counters.

Easily the most controversial part of the proposal was the 18-pump gas station, on nine islands, with a 1,000-square-foot kiosk. Safeway’s gas stations often draw scrutiny from other jurisdictions, as they tend to be heavily used – they offer gas at cheaper rates than other local stations, a practice that has led some to suggest the stations are “loss-leaders,” potentially in violation of state laws governing fair competition.

The closest Safeway gas station is in Santa Rosa, at 2300 Mendocino Ave. There is also one in Novato and another in American Canyon. Safeway reward points can also be redeemed at non-Safeway gas stations, which in Sonoma includes the Chevron Station at 540 W. Napa St., virtually across the street from the proposed location.

The 2005 Safeway expansion proposal also included a slightly smaller gas station of 12 pumps. The 2005 proposal, according to City Planner David Goodison, “was the subject of considerable skepticism on the part of the Planning Commission, which expressed concerns in the area of traffic, traffic safety, aesthetics, and the lack of a residential component, among other issues.” Safeway’s 2005 expansion went forward without a permit, as its remodel was contained within its existing building.

Erica Tuohy, in a letter to City Senior Planner Rob Gjestland this summer, objected to the new proposal by saying its “traffic and associated danger impact will be even worse” than the 2005 proposal. She also pointed out a 2012 fatal pedestrian accident at Fifth Street West and Studley Street, one block south of Napa and directly across from the Safeway store.

Echoing Tuohy’s comments was Saied Molavi, who observed that traffic in Sonoma has only gotten busier in the intervening 11 years. “Additionally,” he said, “we don’t need more gas emissions in our air, especially so close to two schools and to residential streets with many elderly residents.” It should be noted that Molavi owns the Valero station at 18605 Sonoma Highway, across from the Fiesta Plaza.

At the Aug. 11 meeting, and in online postings on Facebook and elsewhere, some residents endorsed the idea of a Safeway gas station for its low prices and convenience, saying paying less for gas in Sonoma means drivers don’t have to go as far for cheap gas – hence the sum effect is fewer emissions, as well as reduced costs for consumers.

But others were less open to the idea. “I think this is probably the worst intersection in town to put a gas station,” said David Eichar, a software engineer who lives in Boyes Hot Springs. “I don’t think I have ever had to wait at a gas station to get gas. We don’t need another gas station in town.”

Others raised concern about what neighboring landowner Nancy Lloyd called “a seasonal wetlands” that provides “rest for migrating ducks, wildflowers as well as views for my tenants” in the lot on the east side of the current building. The status of that property, variously described as a swale, wetlands or seasonal creek, could easily be a deal-breaker for Safeway.

Goodison said that if Safeway does make an application, “The status of the swale/stream as a wetland feature needs to be analyzed and presence of seasonal wetlands needs to be evaluated,” since wetlands protection falls under federal guidelines.

Safeway’s own informal proposal is not to expand into this controversial area, but to retain it as an “an open space amenity” with a possible pedestrian and bike path. The 15,000-square-foot expansion would press east from the current building into the vacant area where the swale is, but stay clear of the wetlands feature.

But Safeway’s pitch used the presence of the wetlands as a reason to ask relief from the City’s requirement that commercial developments more than one-half acre must include a residential component. That would mean the development might be required to provide 7,500-square-feet of “housing opportunity,” though Safeway held in its current project narrative “the site’s viability as a residential opportunity is minimal.”

Several of the Planning Commission members, and the public in their comments, expressed open skepticism of their request for an exclusion, noting that a 7,500-square-foot housing element could be built elsewhere on the site, such as making better use of the expansive parking lot facing West Napa Street. Whether or not that housing opportunity would be used to build affordable housing, and help allay advocates who say we have an affordable housing “crisis,” may be a determination the Planning Commission would make at the time a formal application is on the table.

Commission alternate Robert McDonald acknowledged the property is problematic, but that it also provides an opportunity, “given its size and proximity to downtown,” and urged a more pedestrian-oriented development at the busy intersection.

Commissioner Ron Wellander agreed. “This is a great parcel for redevelopment, with the largest expanse of asphalt in the city.” He urged Safeway to see its proposed expansion as “an opportunity to push the limits of creativity.”

Chair Robert Felder closed the session saying, “I think the community in general would be happy to support Safeway as a proud partner to this community, but we’re going to challenge you to do it right.”

Contact Christian at christian.kallen@sonomanews.com.

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