Gresham wrestles with big-box rules
Council member wants city to pass development standards
Jim Clark / The Outlook
Suzan Wells helped lead the charge against Wal-Mart moving to the vacant Gresham QFC store, shown behind her. She’s been pushing the city of Gresham for five years to pass regulations governing “big-box” development.
It’s been five years since the Southwest Gresham Neighborhood Association appealed to Gresham city leaders to create a code regulating big-box stores.
Now, after a Tuesday, Oct. 13, presentation in which city planners insisted none is needed, councilors appear to be ready to fast-track the idea.
“Personally, I think it’s high time we created some standards,” said Councilor Josh Fuhrer, who owns a real estate development company, “simply because we don’t want to be like the majority of cities that haven’t. All you really need is one (big-box store) to become a major neighborhood problem.”
Council President Richard Strathern knows that from personal experience. Before being elected to the City Council, he was part of a group that twice fought Wal-Mart and won, keeping the store from setting up shop off West Powell Boulevard and 182nd Avenue.
The first Wal-Mart proposal was for a 212,000-square-foot supercenter, complete with two levels of underground parking. Gresham approved the project, but the neighborhood, worried about traffic problems, appealed the city’s decision before the state Land Use Board of Appeals in 2005 and won.
A year later, Wal-Mart proposed a store half the size, the logic being it would generate less traffic. That time the city rejected the proposal, citing traffic issues.
The neighborhood’s victory — more than five years ago — led the neighborhood association to request that city councilors adopt codes regulating big-box development. “I’m disappointed this hasn’t been done already,” Strathern said.
Such comments came in sharp contrast to a staff recommendation against creating such a code.
John Pettis, associate comprehensive planner, said some cities limit building size to 100,000 square feet. And some create design standards to ensure buildings fit in with the surrounding area.
Gresham already limits building size in all but one commercial district, Pettis said, adding that the economic downturn makes another proposed big-box development unlikely for the time being. Plus, Gresham only has four sites big enough to be redeveloped to accommodate a 100,000-square-foot or larger building.
Fuhrer cautioned that big-box stores are scaling down. “How many sites in Gresham would accommodate a 70,000-square-foot store?” he asked.
As for it being unlikely that big box stores will want to build during a recession, Fuhrer pointed out that the economy means big bucks for some retailers. “Dollar Stores, Costcos, Wal-Mart — they’re actually doing pretty well right now because that’s what people can afford,” he said. “And those are big boxes.”
Mayor Shane Bemis, however, called for an “honest conversation” about the true intent of a big-box code, adding that any talk of what the city wants to prohibit must be tempered by a discussion about what the city could also miss out on.
“Is this to keep Wal-Mart from 181st and Powell, or is this going to keep Best Buy or other retailers away that citizens may want?” he asked. “I know what the neighborhood doesn’t want. I get that. But how do we incorporate that into a uniform code that protects the neighborhood and that doesn’t adversely affect us?”
Suzan Wells, president of the Southwest Gresham Neighborhood Association, said the mayor’s concerns are valid. Even so, she’s all for big-box regulations, especially if they include design standards and accountability clauses to prevent retailers from leaving empty buildings behind when they close their doors.
“It doesn’t hurt them at all to have these kinds of empty shells here,” she said standing in front of a closed QFC building on 11 acres that Wal-Mart bought in hopes of building there. Now barbed wire tops chain-link fences around the abandoned parking lot. Taggers routinely spray paint graffiti on the structure and transients camp in the area, Wells said. “They leave these vacant buildings or vacant lots and the community is left looking at it, basically.”
Mike Abbaté, director of urban design and planning, plans to return to the council in about a month with big-box code options.