After a public hearing that was significantly shorter than the multiple marathon sessions held four years ago, the Ukiah Planning Commission put the long-delayed Costco project officially back on track Wednesday by approving its revised Environmental Impact Report.
“This project has taken a long time to get to this point through a lot of court challenges,” said Michael Okuma, the director of real estate development for Costco, who presented the plans for the warehouse on Airport Park Boulevard in 2013. And despite the delays, his corporation was still committed to building in Ukiah.
“We believe that this project still makes sense and we are in 100-percent support,” Okuma said.
The proposed warehouse was first approved by the Planning Commission in 2013, then by the Ukiah City Council in early 2014, but soon after that Davis attorney William Kopper filed a lawsuit on behalf of the “Ukiah Citizens for Safety First” alleging that the EIR should not have been certified.
The case was rejected by Mendocino County Superior Court, but Kopper appealed that decision. By that point, the Food Maxx employees originally named as plaintiffs had asked to have their names removed from the lawsuit, and Kopper has refused to name any remaining client.
Last year, the First Court of Appeal dismissed all but one of Kopper’s claims regarding the validity of the project’s EIR: that the energy use section was improperly handled since it should have been separated out.
Since then, the city has revised the EIR and sent it out for the required public comment period before bringing it back to the Planning Commission for approval.
Three residents addressed the commission, most in favor of the project.
Pinky Kushner said she was disappointed that plans for the building did not include installing solar panels, but she did express gratitude for Costco agreeing to plant native species for the project’s landscaping.
Resident Susan Knopf said she was also glad that native plants were being considered, and that “there will be a landscaping buffer zone between the gas station and the wetlands.”
The revised EIR was then approved by all commission members except for Linda Sanders, and the updated plans will next go before the City Council for approval.
