Hermantown city officials seem receptive to the idea of a scaled-down Wal-Mart expansion in their community.
On Friday morning, Hermantown Planning and Zoning Director John Klaers laid out more details of the proposed expansion that would add about 66,000 square feet to the current Hermantown Wal-Mart, turning it into a Supercenter with a grocery store.
Wal-Mart officials began discussing the smaller expansion in October, Klaers said. The current proposal calls for remodeling the existing store and slightly expanding the parking lot.
A 2005 proposal to tear down the existing store and build a new, nearly 204,000-square-foot Supercenter on the site caused fireworks in the community, though the Hermantown City Council consistently supported the project.
The new proposal would affect fewer wetlands, and also includes three rain gardens and underground storage for stormwater runoff, features not included in the 2005 proposal.
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After reviewing an environmental asessment worksheet completed for the 2005 proposal, the Hermantown City Council voted against requiring Wal-Mart to complete a more-rigorous environmental impact statement. The documents are designed to identify possible negative environmental impacts from a construction project and show how a company would mitigate them.
Klaers said the new project would require neither assessment, because it is smaller in scope than the 2005 proposal.
The city's Planning and Zoning Commission is set to consider the project at its Feb. 17 meeting. They could then recommend that the City Council approve or deny the project. Wal-Mart would like to begin construction in the spring, Klaers said.
New City Councilor John Geissler said the new stormwater capture features made the project more attractive. Geissler sat on the city's Planning and Zoning Commission when the 2005 proposal came forward. At that time Geissler was concerned about the potential environmental effects on nearby Miller Creek and cast a lone vote for Wal-Mart to complete an environmental impact statement.
"I believe what they are doing now is certainly more environmentally sensitive," Geissler said. "I think the four-year delay was certainly a benefit to Hermantown and the environment."
When asked what kind of public comment he expected to hear about the project, Geissler showed the first
e-mail he has received as a city councilor.
"Please do whatever is in your power to bring us a super Wal-Mart," it read.
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