The Walmart issue is a sticky one for the incumbents since the big box retailer was invited into town under their watch (but Marketside is an attractive alternative)…

Hercules race polite, but tough issues could lie ahead
By Tom Lochner

In what has been a polite Hercules City Council race, the candidates have found little fault in the way the city is run and the direction in which it is headed.

But if they project the impression that the city faces few immediate problems — a notion that not all residents share — there could be some pretty tricky ones in the not-so-distant future.

Incumbents Joanne Ward and Ed Balico, second-time candidate Don Kuehne and first-time office-seeker John Delgado are vying for three seats.

Wal-Mart, which has tangled with the city the past few years over plans for a big-box store near the waterfront, has not filed any new application since it won a lawsuit last year overturning an eminent domain action by the city. But the big-box plan has been unpopular with residents, who believe it would draw in regional auto and truck traffic and defeat the city’s vision of a pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly Central and Waterfront area, among other objections. All four candidates have said they oppose a big-box store there.

A major impediment to Wal-Mart’s big-box plan has been the city’s contention that a 2003 development agreement with the previous owner of the property, The Lewis Group, calls for a neighborhood shopping center with a store-size limit of 64,000 square feet, although Wal-Mart contends it is only a loose guideline. Lewis had submitted an application for a 167,700-square-foot store; Wal-Mart later applied for a 142,000-square-foot-store and finally a 99,000-square-foot store.

But Wal-Mart may have another answer to the size problem. Earlier this year, the retail giant announced a prototype “friendlier, neighborhood grocery store,” initially for the Phoenix area: a kind of Baby Wal-Mart, but without the Wal-Mart title, of about 15,000 square feet, dubbed “Marketside.” The first four Marketside stores opened in Arizona on Oct. 4, said Wal-Mart spokeswoman Ashley Hardie.

Wal-Mart also has a midsize model, Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market, typically about 42,000 square feet, which sells groceries, dry goods, pharmaceuticals and other general merchandise. There were 144 Neighborhood Markets nationwide at last count, according to the company Web site.

Wal-Mart’s Northern California spokesman did not return calls Thursday and Friday seeking information on the company’s plans for Hercules.

Hercules faces years of construction on the waterfront, where the present council adopted an initiative in July that approved a New Urbanism-inspired plan for more than 1,200 homes, offices, shops and an intermodal transit center; several other major projects are at various phases of the approval process. The new council also will have to deal with a flap over the rezoning of the Civic Arts building to allow a restaurant; how to make Franklin Canyon open space accessible to the public without bothering nearby homeowners; and several lawsuits against the city, including one for many millions of dollars by a developer seeking reimbursement for land dedicated for streets and parks and set aside for affordable housing.

The candidates engaged in a friendly debate earlier this month that can be seen on local cable TV stations and on the Times’ Web site. There will be another candidates forum, co-sponsored by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Hercules Chamber of Commerce and moderated by the League of Women Voters, at 7 p.m. Oct. 23 in the City Council chamber at Hercules City Hall, 111 Civic Drive.