Ukiah>> Inching ever closer to the opening of a proposed Costco store, the Ukiah City Council Wednesday approved the Environmental Impact Report for a Highway 101 project that must be completed before the store can open its doors.
Called the Talmage Road/Southbound U.S. 101 on-off ramp Realignment Project, the work is needed to support the build-out of Redwood Business Park, which is expected to include a Costco warehouse.
The design preferred by Caltrans is known as “Alternative 2,” and includes widening the off-ramp from southbound Hwy. 101 to westbound Talmage Road (toward the Costco site) to two lanes and putting a traffic signal where it meets Talmage Road. The southbound off-ramp to eastbound Talmage Road would remain one lane, and two dedicated left-turn lanes from Talmage Road to Airport Park Boulevard would be provided.
When comments were collected on the draft EIR, city staff explained, the main concerns were that the EIRs for the Costco store and the road improvements should not have been separated, and that the EIR did not adequately address traffic safety and air pollution.
In addition, Planning Director Charley Stump told the council that he received a letter (which was later revealed to be a one-inch stack of documents) just before the meeting from William Kopper, the attorney who represents the group calling itself “Ukiah Citizens for Safety First,” which previously filed a lawsuit claiming that the EIR for the Costco store should not have been certified. That suit was struck down.
Kopper addressed the council at the meeting, saying that the group he represents feels that the city should purchase carbon offsets to mitigate the air pollution impacts, and that the traffic study done for the EIR should have included the increase in traffic that the Costco store will create.
Mayor Doug Crane pointed out that nothing in the EIR spoke to how eliminating thousands of trips made by Mendocino County residents to Santa Rosa and beyond to shop at Costco would greatly benefit the environment, but City Attorney David Rapport pointed out that the EIR being discussed was not for Costco, solely the road improvements.
The board then addressed questions to Kopper.
“I feel an obligation to reach out to citizens in the community, and I tried to reach out to the Ukiah Citizens for Safety First, but I could not find any way to contact them,” Council member Kevin Doble said. Kopper suggested that Doble contact them through Rapport, as they are a group represented by an attorney. When asked how many people were a part of the group, Kopper said “several,” though previous court documents have only listed two FoodMaxx employees: Rachel Land and Patty Hernandez.
“Have you asked the residents of the community to see how many of them would like to see the EIR for the project approved so the store can open?” asked Jim Brown, adding that he was asking the question to point out how the “actions of so few can affect the lives of so many.”
“We’ve been spending a lot of time and money driving to Santa Rosa, when we should be able to shop in our own backyard,” said Ukiah resident Jennifer Seward. “A lot of time and money has also been spent on this project, and I fully support it moving forward.”
Vice-Mayor Steve Scalmanini said he was “a little thrown” by receiving such a thick stack of papers from Kopper right before the meeting, and asked what exactly the council was being asked to approve.
“In my mind, it is whether the (EIR) provides us with enough information to know what the issues are and that they are addressed,” said Doble, and Rapport agreed, saying that the EIR did not have to be “accurate,” it just had to be “adequate” to comply with the California Environmental Quality Act.
The Ukiah council then voted unanimously to certify the EIR.
