Special Elk Grove City Council Meeting Scheduled to Close Wal Mart Loophole

Proposed Wal Mart Store in the Madeira neigborhood

Unknown person slips in Wal Mart loophole; special meeting this afternoon

At 4:00 p.m. this afternoon the Elk Grove City Council will convene a special meeting to close a pro-Wal Mart loophole that was discovered during Wednesday night’s regular meeting.

The discovery came during an extended discussion of a requested extension of the conditional use permit (CUP) for the proposed Wal Mart store on the southeast corner Bruceville Road and Whitelock Parkway. The CUP had originally been approved for a Target store.

Had the request not been extended, Wal Mart could have requested a new CUP that would have given them the ability to bypass requirement of the 2007 big box ordinance. Wal Mart’s proposed store is less than 100,000 square feet and would have not been subject to the conditions of the big box ordinance.

Today’s meeting will specifically place a 45-day moratorium on approval of any stores larger than 50,000 square feet.

During Wednesday's meeting the Wal Mart loophole, which was inserted into an ordinance approved last month, was discovered. Elk Grove City Attorney Susan Cochran was pointedly asked by Council Member Jim Cooper who was responsible. 

"I don't know," Cochran said.