Corvallis considers Home Depot plans for third time in a year

By BECKY WALDROP
Gazette-Times reporter

Will the third time be the charm for the developer of the proposed Corvallis Station complex, including a new Home Depot?

Or will opponents of so-called "big box" stores prevail in blocking the world's largest home improvement store chain?

For the third time in a year, the Home Depot case will come before the Corvallis City Council. A series of complicated appeals has delayed the project. And a second home improvement store already approved to be built in south Corvallis is on hold pending the outcome of Home Depot.

Twenty months have passed since developers submitted separate plans to build the stores. But neither project has been able to break ground because of opposition. Previous approvals of Home Depot could stand, or a different outcome could be decided by a council that includes four new councilors who were elected after the store was first approved, according to City Attorney Jim Brewer.

At today's meeting, the council will decide whether to re-open the record, allowing for new testimony related to the developer's transportation plan, and introducing the possibility of a new vote.

"Transportation alone is for them to say ‘yes' or ‘no' to the whole thing," Brewer said.

Regardless of what the council does, it may not be the final decision.

"Either proponents or opponents could appeal that decision," Brewer said.

As the case works its way through the legal process, more issues are being resolved, leaving fewer options for continuing appeals. Meanwhile, developers of Corvallis Station and Home Depot have said they're committed to the project, regardless of how many appeals are raised.

Bill Kloos, an attorney representing one of the opponents, Joan Rose, said his client has not decided whether to continue her appeals and declined further comment. Nancy Staus, Gerald Heilman and John Foster have been part of the anti-big-box-store group, Corvallis Action Project, and are the other appellants.

After the City Council approved the project last May by the slimmest of margins, a 5-4 vote with the mayor breaking the tie, the project was appealed by opponents to the state Land Use Board of Appeals.

The state upheld the decision, but remanded a part of the council's written rationale to the city to clarify how the project complied with transportation rules. The same council that approved the store plans amended the transportation findings in December.

Meanwhile, opponents had appealed the state's decision to the Oregon Court of Appeals, and subsequently challenged the council's authority to address the transportation plan while its other appeal was pending.

The state agreed with opponents that the appeal had to be resolved first, so the land-use board threw out the changes made by the council last winter.

Then late last month, the appeals court ruled in favor of the developer by upholding previous decisions by the state and City Council. Opponents were challenging the city's interpretation of the comprehensive plan map that establishes the zone and allowed uses for the proposed site near Highway 99W and Circle Boulevard, behind Big Kmart and Safeway.

In a decision filed April 20, the court of appeals wrote: "In short, there is nothing in the text of the comprehensive plan that supports the petitioner's argument."

Or in other words: "That takes care of that issue," Brewer said.

The decision is important because it's the basis for all decisions that follow. If the review process were a pyramid, then the comprehensive plan would be the base, he said.

If the city had erred on what the comprehensive plan designation was, then interpretations of the zoning map and allowed uses also would have been incorrect.

Another factor in today's deliberations will be which of the nine city councilors will participate in a decision. Rob Gandara, George Grosch and Betty Griffiths were on council last year and voted against Home Depot. Hal Brauner changed his vote to "yes" to uphold the council's decision, after Grosch missed the first vote but voted against adopting the council's findings for approval. Scott Zimbrick voted to approve Home Depot.

These five councilors listened to hours of testimony and read hundreds of pages of letters regarding the project. New councilors Charlie Tomlinson, Trish Daniels, Jerry Davis and Emily Hagen would need to listen to all the tape-recorded testimony and read all the documentation in order to participate in the decision, Brewer said.

Brewer has recommended that councilors who are not qualified to vote should not participate in the decision to determine which process will be used to address the transportation plan. He is also recommending that the public be given an opportunity to comment on the transportation issue, which would push a decision by council back to at least June. Opening the record reduces the chance for further appeals, Brewer said.

"At some point, there's nothing left to appeal," he said. "One would hope that whatever decision the city makes that people choose not to appeal the decision."

If you go

WHAT: Corvallis City Council meeting to discuss the remanded Corvallis Station Home Depot decision

WHEN: Noon today

WHERE: Upstairs meeting room, Downtown Fire Station, 400 N.W. Harrison Blvd.