MEDFORD — Wal-Mart's quest to build a Medford supercenter will head back to the city's Site Plan and Architectural Commission for a public hearing, the City Council decided late Thursday.
Members of a local citizens group, Citizens for Responsible Development, had turned out Thursday for a public hearing scheduled on the issue. They expected to demand the city require Wal-Mart to complete a comprehensive traffic study before building its supercenter at the former Miles Field site along Highway 99 in south Medford.
But the council did not open the public hearing, so neither Wal-Mart representatives nor opponents had a chance to speak.
Instead, the council voted to have a full evidentiary hearing during the SPAC meeting, said City Recorder Glenda Owens.
Shareen Vogel, spokeswoman for the citizens group, said she didn't mind that no one was allowed to speak to the council Thursday night.
"We feel pleased with the fact that this is being taken to SPAC and it will be a full evidentiary hearing," Vogel said. "This is a good thing."
Wal-Mart's proposed modifications include reorienting the store to face south instead of east and reducing the overall square footage of the store from 206,500 to 176,500.
Vogel said the square footage reduction is minor and will not resolve concerns about traffic.
"This is still a supercenter," she said. "The impact is the same nonetheless."
The issue came before the council after the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals ruled in September that the city erred in barring the citizens group from speaking in a public hearing on Wal-Mart in November 2005.
The citizens group would like the council to require the retail giant to fund street upgrades needed because of additional traffic generated by the store.
Wal-Mart representatives have argued that the city cannot legally require them to do a comprehensive study. A traffic study for the property was completed in 1991 at the time of a zoning change. The City Council approved the Wal-Mart project after numerous hearings.
According to the Medford planning staff, the project is expected to come before SPAC soon, though a hearing date has not been set.
Efforts to reach Greg Hathaway, the Portland attorney representing Wal-Mart, by press time were unsuccessful.
Reach reporter Meg Landers at 776-4481 or e-mail mlanders@mailtribune.com.
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