Site search
sponsored by
News
Costco Wholesale, the retail warehouse giant that has eyed central Douglas County for more than a decade, is readying an application to locate a store in north Roseburg.
Officials from the Issaquah, Wash, company are expected in coming days to formally seek the go-ahead to build its first store between Central Point and Eugene.
“I’m expecting an application to be filed with our office in the next seven days,” county Planning Director Keith Cubic said today.
Costco company officials declined to confirm or deny the report.
“Our corporate policy is to not comment on specific markets,” company founder and chief executive officer Jeff Brotman said in a written statement.
Costco has submitted a preliminary plan and a sketch to the county showing a 148,000-square-foot warehouse store located north of the old Perry’s Electric store on Northeast Stephens Street. Besides its membership warehouse stocked with giant-sized packages of food, along with clothing, electronics, appliances and other items, the operation would also include a 12-pump fueling station.
Officials from the Issaquah, Wash, company are expected in coming days to formally seek the go-ahead to build its first store between Central Point and Eugene.
“I’m expecting an application to be filed with our office in the next seven days,” county Planning Director Keith Cubic said today.
Costco company officials declined to confirm or deny the report.
“Our corporate policy is to not comment on specific markets,” company founder and chief executive officer Jeff Brotman said in a written statement.
Costco has submitted a preliminary plan and a sketch to the county showing a 148,000-square-foot warehouse store located north of the old Perry’s Electric store on Northeast Stephens Street. Besides its membership warehouse stocked with giant-sized packages of food, along with clothing, electronics, appliances and other items, the operation would also include a 12-pump fueling station.
The gasoline pumps would be placed away from the store building along Kenneth Ford Drive, the road that separates the property for the proposed Costco site from the nonprofits campus that includes the Family Development Center and the new Umpqua Community Action Network headquarters and food warehouse.
The Oregon Department of Transportation has expressed concerns about the expected increase in traffic that would accompany the store’s opening and would like upgrades made.
The agency estimates Costco’s presence would add nearly 10,700 trips a day to Edenbower Boulevard leading from Interstate 5 to the proposed store location. Peak hour trips between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. would increase from 1,500 to 2,400, according to the estimates.
In a June 26 letter from Thomas Guevara, an ODOT development review planner, to county Public Works Director Robb Paul, the agency asked the county to refrain from issuing any building permits for the project until a traffic mitigation plan that meets state and federal standards could be devised.
Costco has offered to put up $900,000 to pay for any needed road improvements, along with another $500,000 pledged to help pay for installation of a traffic light at the intersection of Northeast Stephens Street and Kenneth Ford Drive and to pay for a northbound deceleration lane.
That lane would allow vehicles heading to Costco to move out of the traffic lanes and slow down before turning into the store’s parking lot.
Southbound cars, along with delivery trucks approaching the store from either direction would enter the property from Kenneth Ford Drive, county Public Works Director Robb Paul said. Southbound vehicles would not be allowed to turn left into other store driveways on Stephens, he said.
The property, located outside Roseburg city limits but within the urban growth boundary, is zoned for industrial use. Cubic said the membership warehouse store fit the definition of industrial use, so a zone change isn’t necessary to construct the store. If a zone change was needed, ODOT could order road improvements as part of that process.
Costco will have to go through a checklist of county planning regulations and obtain a traffic access permit issued by the Public Works Department before it can obtain a building permit. All approvals can be obtained administratively.
Costco began considering Roseburg for a store 10 years ago. The company originally wanted to develop a site off I-5 next to the Ingram Book warehouse in Green. The presence of wetlands would have limited the area available for parking and the site was later rejected. Other sites have been mentioned over the years, but none were developed.
Earlier this year, company officials told county planning and building officials they planned to have a store in Roseburg open before the end of the year. They said they only needed 107 days after breaking ground to have a store ready to open.
• You can reach reporter John Sowell at 957-4209 or by e-mail at jsowell@nrtoday.com.
The Oregon Department of Transportation has expressed concerns about the expected increase in traffic that would accompany the store’s opening and would like upgrades made.
The agency estimates Costco’s presence would add nearly 10,700 trips a day to Edenbower Boulevard leading from Interstate 5 to the proposed store location. Peak hour trips between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. would increase from 1,500 to 2,400, according to the estimates.
In a June 26 letter from Thomas Guevara, an ODOT development review planner, to county Public Works Director Robb Paul, the agency asked the county to refrain from issuing any building permits for the project until a traffic mitigation plan that meets state and federal standards could be devised.
Costco has offered to put up $900,000 to pay for any needed road improvements, along with another $500,000 pledged to help pay for installation of a traffic light at the intersection of Northeast Stephens Street and Kenneth Ford Drive and to pay for a northbound deceleration lane.
That lane would allow vehicles heading to Costco to move out of the traffic lanes and slow down before turning into the store’s parking lot.
Southbound cars, along with delivery trucks approaching the store from either direction would enter the property from Kenneth Ford Drive, county Public Works Director Robb Paul said. Southbound vehicles would not be allowed to turn left into other store driveways on Stephens, he said.
The property, located outside Roseburg city limits but within the urban growth boundary, is zoned for industrial use. Cubic said the membership warehouse store fit the definition of industrial use, so a zone change isn’t necessary to construct the store. If a zone change was needed, ODOT could order road improvements as part of that process.
Costco will have to go through a checklist of county planning regulations and obtain a traffic access permit issued by the Public Works Department before it can obtain a building permit. All approvals can be obtained administratively.
Costco began considering Roseburg for a store 10 years ago. The company originally wanted to develop a site off I-5 next to the Ingram Book warehouse in Green. The presence of wetlands would have limited the area available for parking and the site was later rejected. Other sites have been mentioned over the years, but none were developed.
Earlier this year, company officials told county planning and building officials they planned to have a store in Roseburg open before the end of the year. They said they only needed 107 days after breaking ground to have a store ready to open.
• You can reach reporter John Sowell at 957-4209 or by e-mail at jsowell@nrtoday.com.
