David Benda
Redding Record Searchlight
Published 11:00 AM EST Feb 8, 2020
The fate of Costco and the Dignity Health wellness complex, two projects that would change the landscape of freeway and riverside frontage properties in Redding, could be determined this spring.
Costco wants to relocate from Dana Drive and build a 152,000-square-foot new store — about 40% larger than its current location — on the northwest corner of South Bonnyview Road and Bechelli Lane west of Interstate 5. The store also would feature a gas station with 20 fueling positions and the ability to expand to 30.
Dignity wants to build on 10.55 acres along the Sacramento River near the southwest corner of Cypress and Hartnell avenues behind the Cobblestone Shopping Center. The campus would take up 129,600 square feet and include two-, three- and four-story buildings.
Both projects have faced opposition from neighborhood and labor groups.
Opposition to Costco’s relocation plan has been especially fierce. The Bonnyview Bechelli Coalition through its Bay Area attorney, Mark Wolfe, prompted the city to recirculate portions of the draft environmental impact report not once but twice.
The deadline to comment on latest recirculation of the draft EIR is 5 p.m. Thursday Feb. 13.
As of Wednesday, the city had received 11 comments. “Most of them seem to be from folks who have written before, and all of these, I recall, are related to traffic,” said Kent Manuel, the city’s lead planner for the project.
Attorney Wolfe has yet to comment, but he’s waited until the 11th hour twice now to weigh in.
The day before the City Council was to take up the project last August, Wolfe sent a letter to the city on behalf of the coalition that raised questions about the final EIR’s traffic and air quality impacts.
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In November 2018, Wolfe also sent a letter on the eve of the Planning Commission meeting, which convinced commissioners to recommend recirculating portions of the draft EIR the first time.
A takeaway from Pleasanton and Ukiah?
Those wondering about Costco’s resolve in the face of this opposition need only look to the East Bay and Mendocino County.
On Tuesday, the Pleasanton City Council unanimously approved a new Costco near Interstate 680, a nearly six-year saga that included a lawsuit and failed ballot measure that would have limited the size of buildings within the project area to 50,000 square feet or less.
The group that sued, Pleasanton Citizens for Responsible Growth, also was represented by Wolfe. The lawsuit convinced the city to rescind the supplemental EIR and rework it.
On Wednesday morning, Pleasanton Citizens for Responsible Growth posted on Facebook: “We are happy to report that although we may have lost this battle, the fight and war goes on. This is not a done deal … yet.”
In Ukiah, Costco withstood two legal challenges, including a Ukiah city councilor appealing the project for its lack of solar energy, over a seven-year period before it opened in July 2018.
Dignity: ‘Still moving along, but fairly slowly’
It’s been two-and-a-half years since an 11th-hour letter from a Sacramento law firm representing local labor groups put the skids on Dignity Health’s plans to build a $50 million wellness campus on Sacramento River-front property near the Henderson Open Space.
“It’s still moving along, but fairly slowly,” city of Redding Planning Manager Lily Toy told me recently. “We probably won’t get any public hearings until maybe early March.”
The letter from Adams Broadwell Joseph & Cardozo came a day before the Redding Planning Commission was scheduled to consider the project on Aug. 22, 2017. The firm represents Redding Residents for Responsible Growth, a group made up of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 340, Plumbers & Steamfitters Local 228, Sheet Metal Workers Local 104 and their families who live and work in Redding and Shasta County.
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The letter visibly upset Rick Bosetti, who at the time sat on the commission.
“We have to do what we have to do … but this thing, I don’t know how a better way to say it, but it sucks,” Bosetti said at the meeting before the commissioners voted to put the project on hold.
Eventually, the city agreed to the group’s demands and did an EIR on the project.
The city put the draft EIR out for public comment last summer.
Meanwhile, nearby Henderson Open Space is seeing some activity.
Work started last year on the city’s open space project, which includes trails, a parking lot and kayak launch.
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The troubled area also has been the subject of police and community cleanups of the area, removing garbage and homeless camps.
Stay tuned.
Ross’ new store starts to take shape
With the Save Mart grocery store scheduled to open in May in Churn Creek MarketPlace, work started last month on the new Ross Dress For Less.
Ross will be next to Save Mart, where the concrete shell of the 50,000-square-foot supermarket can be seen from Interstate 5.
Churn Creek MarketPlace also will feature a Less Schwab Tire Center at the north end of the shopping center. The lot between Douglas Lane and Arizona Street, future home of Les Schwab, was cleared last year.
Already open in the center are In-N-Out Burger, Panda Express and an ARCO station.
Affordable housing complex expands
Opened in 2017 with 55 units, the Woodlands on Polk Street in Redding, just east of Highway 273, is growing.
Construction started last fall on the final 20 units of the apartment complex, which houses the area’s most vulnerable. Under construction are one-, two- and three-bedroom units.
Ten of the apartments will be for “mentally ill” or “emotionally distressed” residents, said Bobbi Sawtelle, housing director of Northern Valley Catholic Social Service, the nonprofit that manages the property.
Sunseri Construction Inc. of Chico is building the units and there’s a chance they will be finished this summer, Sawtelle said.
NVCSS hasn’t had a problem filling the first 55 units at the Woodlands.
“We do have a long waiting list,” Sawtelle said, adding that NVCSS is building a waiting list for the 20 new units.
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The $7.6 million project was funded in large part with state and federal tax credits.
NVCSS also is working on the Burney Commons affordable apartments in Burney. Sawtelle, though, said that project is at least two years away from breaking ground.
“Locating the appropriate funding,” she said when asked about the delay.
David Benda covers business, development and anything else that comes up for the USA TODAY Network in Redding. He also writes the weekly “Buzz on the Street” column. He’s part of a team of dedicated reporters that investigate wrongdoing, cover breaking news and tell other stories about your community. Reach him on Twitter @DavidBenda_RS or by phone at 1-530-225-8219. To support and sustain this work, please subscribe today.
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