Accident Potential Stalls Wal-Mart Proposal

GRESHAM, OR-The City of Gresham this week rebuffed Wal-Mart’s effort to develop one of its super centers at the busy intersection of 182nd and Powell. Saying transportation issues could not be resolved, the city denied the application, setting the stage for a potential appeal to the city’s Hearings Officer or the state’s Land Use Board of Appeals.Wal-Mart’s proposal is for a store with mostly below-grade parking for 884 vehicles. Traffic studies showed that at the peak shopping hour on Saturday, more than 1,100 vehicles would flow in and out of the parking lot. The company committed to spending $2 million to mitigate traffic problems, but Gresham economic development director Ed Gallagher determined that the safety risks in the proposed design and the volumes of anticipated traffic make the risk too high for both vehicle/vehicle and vehicle/pedestrian accidents. “While a number of concerns about the development [were] raised, the issue of traffic could not be resolved,” he says.In backing up their concern, Jay McCoy, a senior engineer with the city’s department of environmental services says the intersection at Powell and 182nd has historically ranked in the top 10 on the City’s list of high accident locations. “The option given by the applicant to modify the intersection is known to increase crash potential, and for that reason is not an acceptable alternative with the present application,” she says.If Wal-Mart appeals, state land use law requires that the hearings office make a decision by the end of October. If Wal-Mart loses there, it has the option of appealing to the Land Use Board of Appeals or the Oregon Supreme Court.A Wal-Mart spokesperson tells GlobeSt.com that the company is still reviewing the decision and evaluating its options. At issue, he said, was the company’s plan to enable drivers to turn left into the store without having to wait for a green arrow in the dedicated turn lane. “We clearly felt we offered a plan that mitigated concerns over traffic and which were consistent with city code and Oregon Department of Transportation standards,” says the spokesperson.