City staff will begin the search for a consultant to conduct the Environmental Impact Report as the next step of bringing a Wal-Mart Supercenter to Atascadero.

In a 5-0 vote, City Council members approved the move that is expected to result in selecting a consultant and, eventually, an EIR that could take more than a year to complete.

“The EIR will be the most time-consuming, critical path on this,” said Warren Frace, Atascadero Community Development Director.

Councilman Tom O’Malley emphasized what he described as the importance of being thorough during the EIR process.

“Many folks forget that it’s the EIR process where we get the answers to our questions — what traffic issues might come up, sound issues — so we may not think of every potential issue at the beginning,” he said. “We’re going to pick a potential couple of plans that will be researched. I hope folks understand there will be many opportunities to make sure we deal with any problems associated with the project and also to know what the benefits are.”

The EIR process will be prepared by a qualified, professional consultant, working under contract to city, Frace said.

City staff will be collecting proposals to complete the EIR and will create a five-person selection committee that staff had suggested include Frace, City Attorney Brian Pierik, the public works director, a member of the San Luis Obispo County planning staff and a member of local city planning staff or senior staff.

O’Malley questioned including a county person on the five-member committee, concerns echoed by Councilman Bob Kelley. After discussion, the council recommended to staff that one committee member be selected from the private sector.

The Wal-Mart project, as currently proposed, would include 142,000 square feet of general merchandise and grocery and 3,600 square feet of an outdoor garden area that would result in a total of 146,000 square feet of sales area.

The parking lot is planned to hold about 650 parking spaces with three driveways. The entire project space would cover 21 acres.

Council discussed adding two restaurant pads in front of the Wal-Mart project, not currently proposed by Wal-Mart. That addition to the plan, originally suggested by Councilman Jerry Clay, will likely be part of an alternative plan included under the scope of the EIR.

“Our preference would be that our project move forward as we’ve requested in our application in March of last year,” said Aaron Rios, public affairs and government relations director for Wal-Mart. “We’d be glad to consider alternatives but we would like to move forward with what we’ve already prepared.”

The Rottman Group, which is involved in development at the site adjacent to Wal-Mart’s, is proposing some changes to its development.

“The primary change, the overall square footage, has stayed the same, but the corner has been revised,” Frace said. “They are now planning for a free-standing drug store with a drive-through and potentially a drive-through fast-food restaurant.”

Frace presented four items which were to review and discuss Wal-Mart’s project description, adopt specific project boundaries, direct staff to issue Request for Proposals for EIR and to confirm the public participation process. The specific plan is a regulatory document that implements the general plan.

“It provides another level of regulation specificity,” Frace said. “It will establish the standards for the project and outline the way the project will be financed.”

There is an area to the north of the project site that is both commercial and residential, and Frace recommended that the city “create, through our general plan, a requirement that those areas have a separate master plan prior to any development they’re approved.”

“Doing that will ensure that any future development on those parcels will be consistent with this specific plan and the mitigation measures of the EIR,” he said. “Our big concern is that we want to make sure that all the traffic issues where driveways are located, the parking issues, access to these separate lots are handled in a way that we have to longterm traffic or access problems in this area.”

Mayor Ellen Beraud asked Rios about using green technologies in the Supercenter’s construction.

Wal-Mart project architects said they would be utilizing recycled steel and waste product in the slabs.

When asked about water drainage from the site once developed, a Wal-Mart spokesperson said the water leaving the site would be filtered and would be cleaner than what comes off the site currently, pre-development. There was also discussion at Tuesday’s meeting about ongoing public participation in the Wal-Mart development.

Frace outlined public participation that will include a neighborhood workshop fairly early in the process between the community and applicant to discuss buffers and landscaping.

There will be a joint planning commission/city council study session, an EIR scoping session. The scoping session will happen once the EIR starts and will allow the community to discuss different environmental issues impacted by the project.

After the scoping session, there will be a draft EIR released, which will be reviewed and additional comments collected.

Finally, there will be a planning commission hearing where the planning commission will act as an advisory body making a recommendation to the City Council.