Home Depot clash ready to heat up

A long-anticipated showdown over Home Depot locating on county land in North Auburn is moving closer, with the hardware giant anticipating breaking ground next spring if the project is approved. A draft environmental impact report is set to go public later this week, Placer County supervisors were told by staff Tuesday.Supervisors agreed to extend Home Depot's already four-year-old option to lease 10 acres of now-vacant land at DeWitt Center, but the vote wasn't unanimous. Rookie District 3 Supervisor Jim Holmes cast the lone vote against the option, setting the table for a potential clash at the board level on transportation issues as the project moves forward. Facilities Services Department Deputy Director Mary Dietrich said that the draft report's release later this week required the option extension. The current option expires July 23 and the new one will extend Home Depot's claim on developing the property through mid-2006.The extension would give Home Depot the needed time to proceed through the public approval process on a project. It has already lined up opposition from a variety of groups on a number of issues, including transportation congestion concerns and pollution.Nearby schools representatives and seniors groups have lodged protests in previous public meetings. The Friends of Placer County Communities - the driving force behind Wal-Mart not locating in North Auburn - has several objections, including the potential for closure of nearby, independent stores and the sheer size of the proposal.Holmes, whose auto repair shop was located near the project site, represents much of the North Auburn area on the board. He stated his own reservations about a store that would have a main access point off Highway 49 at Willow Creek Drive. Willow Creek Drive is to be extended into DeWitt Center as part of the Home Depot proposal.Holmes said he has significant concerns about the amount of traffic generated by the store and voted against extending the option. The vote was 4-1, with other supervisors content to ask questions about the value of the option, which cost the Atlanta, Ga.-based corporation $35,000.Earlier, Dietrich said that because the extension comes more than four years after the initial decision by the Board of Supervisors to grant Home Depot an option on a ground lease, the property was re-appraised. Comparisons were made with nearby properties, including the newly constructed Auburn Honda dealership on Highway 49. No change was made on the rent for the premises, she said.Home Depot would pay just under $10 million for a 45-year lease. It would build a 105,000-square-foot store and adjoining 24,304 square-foot garden center. The site is next to DeWitt Center's First Street.Home Depot representative Nick Alexander said that while the draft environmental report had taken longer than expected to complete, the corporation was still resolved to locate in North Auburn."Home Depot wants to make sure we have a very good document to bring forward," Alexander said. "We look forward to providing Placer County with a good Home Depot project."The release of the draft document would precipitate a chance for the public to comment on the project through written responses and a public hearing. That would be followed by hearings before both the Placer County Planning Commission and supervisors on the proposed use permit and environmental impact mitigations.When asked by Roseville Supervisor Bill Santucci what time frame Home Depot is working on for the store, Alexander answered that it would depend on getting through the impending project approval process."Assuming we get approved, we can move swiftly through the plan-check process and break ground at the end of the rainy season next spring," Alexander said.The Journal's Gus Thomson can be reached at gust@goldcountrymedia.com.