Planning Commission OKs Costco rebuild plan

Nov 03, 2009 (North County Times - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- COST | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- Costco Wholesale Corp.'s plan to rebuild its San Marcos store took another step forward in a city approval process Monday when the Planning Commission signed off on the proposal.

The seven-member panel had little to say about the plan before unanimously voting to approve four different resolutions necessary for the plan to be put into action.

The decision, which came at the end of a public hearing, sets the stage for the project to go to the City Council for final approval in December.

During the hearing, some of Costco's neighbors complained that the project will create noise, traffic and air pollution problems for them.

However, officials from Costco and the city as well as consultants working with the company said the proposal had been carefully thought out and then reworked to minimize its potential effects on the surrounding area.

The commissioners seemed to agree, with one complimenting the company and the city's staff on "a very thorough presentation."

Based in Issaquah, Wash., Costco already operates a 25-year-old, 134,818-square-foot store off Center Drive near the Highway 78-Nordahl Road interchange.

A plan filed with the city in August calls for the company to build a new, 148,283-square-foot store between the existing store and the freeway.

A Harley-Davidson motorcycle shop stands on the proposed construction site now. That store would be torn down and relocated elsewhere in the city, to make room for the new Costco store.

The old Costco store would then be torn down, and Costco would build a gas station in what is now part of the store's parking lot before repaving the rest of the property. The plan calls for the car wash to be added in the future, if company officials decide that doing so makes sense.

They have set spring 2011 as the target for the new store's opening.

Costco explained the proposal to the public during workshops held in September and October. Both sessions drew people who live in a residential neighborhood immediately north of the existing store.

The residents all said they liked the idea of a new store but feared that noise, light and gas or exhaust fumes from the gas station and car wash would spill into their neighborhood.

Costco moved the gas station from the northeast corner of the parking lot about 500 feet to the south, in response to the concerns.

The company also said it would build an 8-foot sound wall and put in more landscaping along the northern edge of the store's property, to protect the neighbors from noise, light and fumes associated with the store.

The changes satisfied some of those worried about the gas station and car wash. New opponents to that part of the project surfaced at the commission's hearing, however.

They included Florence Kenny, who said she represented 1,200 residents in three large apartment complexes off Center Drive. People living in the complexes object to the sound wall because they believe it will funnel noise and pollution from the gas station and car wash into their area, Kenney said.

Commissioner Paul Vojtecky Jr. said he understood the complaint because he had experienced the same problem when he lived about a mile south of where the complexes area.

However, he also said the freeway -- not the Costco store -- was the source of noise and pollution.

"This project is not going to change that," Vojtecky said.

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