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Greenbelt Alliance In the News

May 8, 2003

Activists rap Wal-Mart site

Coalition calls proposed development "the worst project in the Bay Area"

City Councilmember Bob Wasserman, however, isn't putting a lot of stock in the coalition's findings.

"I'm not sure how to react -- I've never even heard of (the coalition)," Wasserman said. "There have been a lot of concerns and fears about Wal-Mart, many of the same fears existed when Fry's (Electronics) and Home Depot came in."

The coalition -- comprised of 90-plus national and Bay Area environmental, social justice and public interest groups, including the Greenbelt Alliance and Environmental Defense -- held a rally Tuesday at the 16.6-acre Wal-Mart project site, near the intersection of Osgood Road and Auto Mall Parkway.

The coalition plans to present the "dumbest growth" award to the City Council at its May 13 meeting, if councilmembers vote to move ahead with the 165,000-square-foot store.

The group released its list Tuesday of the best and worst commercial or housing developments in each of the nine Bay Area counties.

The Wal-Mart project was ranked the worst in Alameda County, but earned "the worst in the region" because "it's a car-oriented mega-store within a 10-minute walk of the proposed Warm Springs BART station," Cohen said.

But Wasserman said Fremont desperately needs to improve shopping.

"We're losing $1.1 billion a year because residents leave to shop elsewhere," he said. "I'm not saying that Wal-Mart will be the answer, but we have to start somewhere."

The Wal-Mart project has been criticized by citizens and numerous groups, including the city's Planning Commission, which unanimously rejected the project in March and slammed store representatives for not including the proposed Warm Springs BART station in the environmental studies.

"This store would create 8,000 more car trips per day to the area on its own," Planning Commissioner Bob Wieckowski said after addressing about two dozen people who attended the rally. "To ignore a BART station a half-mile away on top of that is irresponsible."

It was the second time the project had been rejected by the commission. The project also was shot down in February 2000, only to be overturned two months later by the City Council, on a 3-2 vote.

Unions challenged the council's decision, and an Alameda County Superior Court judge ruled in March 2001 that the project could have a significant environmental impact and ordered studies to be completed.

Those studies were completed earlier this year.

Vice Mayor Bill Pease called the project's "award" and the coalition's press conference "political fodder."

"I would like to see the group's rankings of all projects in Alameda County," he said. "To come out and attack this project, but not to provide a comprehensive list of all other projects in the county with reasoning behind their support or opposition doesn't mean much to me."

Pease said the city needs to look at all opportunities and attract businesses that will keep people shopping here.

"Wal-Mart can be a component of this," he said. "Fremont has not addressed (the loss of shopping) issue effectively and we need to start doing it now."

Both Pease and Wasserman voted for the Wal-Mart project in March 2000. Councilmember Steve Cho, then a member of the Planning Commission, also voted in favor of it.

Of the nine best projects listed by the group, all offered similar functions, such as connections to transit, affordable-housing elements and the blending of a variety of compatible uses.

Fremont's 322-unit, mixed-use development on Civic Center Drive across from Kaiser Hospital was listed as Alameda County's best project.

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