After a hearing that ended around 1 a.m. Friday morning, the Environmental Planning Commission voted to delay a decision on the controversial proposal to build at Walmart at the intersection of Coors and Montaño.
The commission voted on a 60-day continuance and will hold another hearing at 8:30 a.m. March 15 in City Council Chambers, but will not take additional public comment, said Planning Department spokeswoman Deborah Nason.
She said the Commission and the developer agreed that the extra 60 days would allow them time to digest comments made at the hearing on Thursday.
Hundreds of people filled a room in the Convention Center on Thursday for a marathon session on the proposal to build a Walmart at the intersection of Coors and Montaño.
The company was before the Environmental Planning Commission to present its case in hopes the commission would recommend its plans for a 98,900-square-foot store on the southeast corner of the intersection. A vote was not expected Thursday night.
Commissioners listened to more than seven hours of testimony from the public during the afternoon and evening. During the first four hours, all speakers were against the project. Some were opposed to Walmart in general while others just opposed a store that big at the intersection.
All agreed, though, that building a Walmart of that size would create havoc with the traffic, increase crime in the area and ruin the tranquility of the bosque.
Commissioner Jonathan Siegel questioned whether access to the store met current zoning regulations, and Ron Garcia said he was “very concerned about traffic.”
Walmart was not totally without support. The West Side Chamber of Commerce wrote a letter to the commission supporting the project because it would create “badly needed jobs.”
The company also presented a petition with 5,300 signatures favoring the site. Some speakers, including a student from nearby Bosque School, who questioned the petition and whether those signing it really understood the scope of the project.
Walmart has said the store would not increase traffic because its customers would be from neighboring areas, not other parts of the city. The company also has pledged to build a store that blends in with the area and includes a patio and a pedestrian-friendly site. It has also said the store would create more jobs.
“From temporary jobs for construction to long-term jobs and career opportunities for associates, it will create good, quality jobs and help our local economy grow,” according to a Walmart statement. “Walmart is deeply invested in our communities.”
Bob McCannon, president of the Ladera West Neighborhood Association, said his group fought the Walmart near Coors and Interstate 40 and heard the same things Walmart is saying about the proposed development.
“How did that ‘it’s gonna be like a village’ stuff work out for us?” he said. “It didn’t.”
He said since Walmart was built at that site, traffic and crime has increased and a nearby supermarket went out of business.
— This article appeared on page C1 of the Albuquerque Journal
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