City Holds Hearing on Lowe's Shopping Center

Today the city council will reconvene for a public hearing over the proposed Lowe’s shopping center development and if correspondence the city has received in the past couple of weeks is any indication, Petaluma residents are overwhelmingly in favor.

Out some 30 letters the city has received about the controversial development at North McDowell Boulevard and Rainier Avenue, which would bring a shopping center with offices and a gym to the East Side, 23 were in favor. Only four were opposed and several others proposed mitigating the project by building a sound wall along North McDowell Boulevard or a skilled nursing facility at the site, instead of office space, given that the city already has a 40 percent vacancy rate.

The proponents’ overwhelming argument is that Petaluma has no home improvement store, forcing residents to drive to the Lowe’s in Cotati or Santa Rosa.

“We believe Petaluma should expand to allow more shopping choices in town,” wrote Petaluma resident Audrey Tambellini in an April 3 email to the city. “I, for one, am tired of driving up (Highway) 101 every time I need to go to a big store for lumber, etc. I waste gas and pollute the air driving up over that hill. I know it’s “cute” to think of Petaluma as a small quaint town, but grow up! (Sic) we need jobs, better shopping choices and to save energy and time.”

Others wrote in saying that at a time when the economy was still in the pits and the city coffers running close to empty, approving the project is the right thing to do.

“While I’m retired and no longer need to be actively employed, my heart goes out to the many men and women who despair over their inability to secure gainful employment,” wrote Louis Rose, who has lived in Petaluma since 1986. “This project won’t solve the employment problem, but it will certainly make a much needed dent.”

Opponents of the project have said that most of the jobs created by Lowe’s and other shops in the development would likely pay minimum wage—$8 an hour or just $16,000 a year—not nearly enough for someone to be able to afford to live in Petaluma. They also criticize the project’s impact on greenhouse gas emissions, noise and traffic.

The meeting begins at 7pm at City Hall.