Wal-Mart submits development plans in Atascadero

If all goes as anticipated, Wal-Mart will break ground in Atascadero late this summer.

The store has submitted its plans for grading and roadway construction in preparation for the construction of a store. The work will include drainage improvements, construction of a parking lot and preparation of the building pad, or the site where the store will go in.

The long-awaited controversial project proposes about 123,000 square feet of building space, and a 6,500-square-foot garden center at the southeast corner of the intersection of El Camino Real and Del Rio Road.

The store is expected to generate an estimated $580,000 per year in sales tax revenues.

“It is official,” said City Manager Rachelle Rickard at Tuesday’s City Council meeting. “Atascadero’s city staff and Wal-Mart representatives met earlier (Tuesday) for an intake meeting.”

Besides the work that Wal-Mart will do to prepare the facility on site, the store is making separate plans for off-site road improvements, including a Del Rio and El Camino roundabout.

The planned improvements can be viewed publicly on the city’s Facebook page.

“We’re excited to be working with them,” Rickard said. “We’re excited that it’s official.”

The permitting for construction of the building hasn’t yet been completed, a process which will be followed up on by the store. It’s unclear when the store will open its doors for business, but the city’s hope is sometime in 2017, said Phil Dunsmore, Atascadero’s community development director.

The proposal to build the Wal-Mart store went through two years of court battles, ending in 2014. After the city’s approval, the citizens group Save Atascadero sued the city, claiming Atascadero violated state environmental laws by not fully vetting the project’s impacts to roads and air quality.

A year later, a San Luis Obispo Superior Court judge ruled that the city wasn’t in violation. Save Atascadero then appealed and the 2nd District Court of Appeal ruled in favor of the city.

The development was debated for about seven years, drawing both support and criticism.

This story was originally published March 24, 2016 at 4:54 PM with the headline "Wal-Mart submits development plans in Atascadero."