Residents of Sunnyvale who were looking forward to drive-through grocery shopping will have to wait a little bit longer.
Plans to bring an online ordering grocery store at 777 Sunnyvale Saratoga Road have stalled following an appeal from a Sunnyvale resident who thinks more environmental review needs to be done, particularly in regards to air quality.
The planning commission voted Sept. 14 to move forward with the appeal and conduct more environmental review for the store proposed for the former site of Orchard Supply Hardware.
The store’s business model would allow shoppers to place grocery orders online, schedule a time for pick-up at the store, then arrive at the scheduled time to collect their items. Because the plans call for adding just 4,800 square feet to the existing building, it was determined that the project was exempt from California Environmental Quality Act review due to the small size of the addition.
A letter from Sunnyvale resident Michael Howland requested that the project be put on hold until more in-depth study on potential environmental impacts could be done.
“We believe this proposed use could have a significant impact on localized air quality, and further study was necessary before a Special Development Permit could be granted,” read the letter. “Given the novelty of this type of business and the significant departure from the requirements of the municipal code, this project should have received environmental review prior to the granting of this discretionary permit.”
Howland is listed on his Facebook as working as a senior clerk at Save Mart Supermarkets. Howland did not return a phone call from this publication seeking comment.
At the Sept. 14 commission meeting, attorney Mark Wolfe spoke on behalf of Howland, asking the city staff to do an environmental study before moving forward further with the project and doing additional air quality studies beyond a report already provided by Oppidan Investment Company, which is presumed to be representing the project backers.
“The prudent thing to do would be to look at [the project] a little more before approving it,” Wolfe said.
City staff agreed that it would be prudent to conduct an additional environmental impact study and suspend the project until that is done. The commission agreed, voting 3-1 to support the appeal. Commissioner David Simons cast the dissenting vote; commissioners Larry Klein and Ken Olevson were absent.
Sunnyvale city staff is preparing to proceed with an initial study under CEQA, according to Jennifer Garnett, the city’s communications officer.
The project has been rumored by media outlets, including the Silicon Valley Business Journal, to be helmed by online retail giant Amazon.com, though there has been no official confirmation from Amazon to date. The city of Sunnyvale is also in the dark about who the operator of the proposed store will be as project documents filed with the city list Ware Malcomb as the applicant and Mardit Properties, LP as the owner, according to Garnett.
