Jacques Loveall, president of UFCW 8-Golden State, hailed a judge's ruling that struck down the approval by Atwater city officials of plans to build a giant SuperTarget store.
In his June 27 decision, Merced County Superior Court Judge Ronald Hansen ruled that the project's potential environmental impact on the community should have been studied more extensively before it was submitted to Atwater planning officials.
"Judge Hansen made the right decision," Loveall said. "It was obvious that the developers were trying to circumvent state environmental laws when they concealed their intention to build a 24-hour SuperTarget store."
The judge noted that the developer went to "great lengths" to avoid using terms such as "super center" and "super store" when it submitted the proposal to the city, Loveall said.
"The use of such terms would have automatically triggered an environmental review of the possible impact the store would have on existing Atwater businesses," Loveall said.
"Now that an environmental review is going forward, we will have the time and the platform we need to uncover the real effects that a SuperTarget store would have on the Atwater community."
Loveall noted that when stores like SuperTargets open in a community, local businesses close and local wages and health benefits are driven down. "City officials need to look closely at these effects before they act," he said.
30,000 UFCW 8-Golden State members work in stores, plants and offices from the California-Oregon border in the north to Fresno County in the south."
