Lawsuit against Walmart hits another wall

The proposed expansion of the Rohnert Park Wal-Mart has come to another standstill after a Sonoma County judge ruled in favor of a lawsuit filed by Wal-Mart opponents challenging the City Council's approval last September.

Judge Rene Chouteau upheld the writ petition, finding that that the report compiled by the city was in violation of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

The court ruled that the city failed to address several measures proposed by the public to alleviate traffic impacts, as well as noise impacts on the surrounding area. The court further ruled the city needs to rescind the project approval. A new round of public hearings are required in order to correct the deficiencies in the Environmental Impact Report (EIR).

Sonoma State math professor Rick Luttman has been a strong advocate against Wal-Mart since first talks of the expansion.

   "Indeed the developer and city staff must respond to the two points raised by the judge, the EIR must be revised, and the project will go back to the planning commission and city council for re-certification," said Luttman via e-mail.

However, it is only a small victory for the Wal-Mart opposition. Marty Bennet, a Santa Rosa Junior College history instructor and board member at the Sonoma County Conservation action, knows the road ahead will still be difficult.

"The next step falls in Wal-Mart's court," said Bennet in a phone interview. "They have two choices. They can appeal the ruling, which would add a considerable amount of time to the process, or go back and participate in the process of revising the EIR, specifically the sections ruled on by Judge Choteau."

According to Western Wal-Mart Media Director Delia Garcia, Wal-Mart is currently reviewing the ruling to determine their next move.

"We have seen strong support from Rohnert Park residents looking forward to the expansion and the chance to experience Wal-Mart's one-stop shopping opportunity," she said via e-mail. "Our hope is to bring a refreshed and expanded store to our Rohnert Park customers as soon as possible."

But supporters of the lawsuit are not only concerned for the environmental well-being of the community, but also the protection of jobs in a difficult economy, particularly for students.

"Wal-Mart will directly impact student jobs at stores like Oliver's," said Bennet. "It means substituting good paying jobs with benefits for low wage poverty jobs without benefits."

Councilwoman Pam Stafford, who voted in favor of the project last year, said that the city should acknowledge the choice citizens of Rohnert Park have when deciding where to shop.

"People can chose where they want to shop," said Stafford in a phone interview. "Oliver's has a great reputation. People want to shop there because they like the product being to produced."

Stafford said the same principle should apply to Wal-Mart, the building of which does not necessarily mean trouble for other businesses.

For example, while the opposition has used Pacific Market as an example of the type of damage to small business that Wal-Mart could cause, Stafford claims the two are unrelated.

"Pacific Market had a bad business plan, and was not doing well long before talk of the Wal-Mart expansion," she said.

Nothing more has been done concerning the lawsuit as of press time.