Walmart is Replacing Circuit City on Stevens Creek

The former Circuit City at 4080 Stevens Creek in San Jose is about to get a radical makeover. Walmart is planning to turn it into a 45,000 SQFT Neighborhood Market (not a full-blown Walmart). The store will offer groceries, some home items, prepared food, a deli, and a pharmacy. However, this store is not without controversy. Below is a letter sent in from one of our readers:

"Hello Josh,
I wanted to alert you and others to what's been going on with plans for a Walmart Neighborhood Market to take over an old Circuit City at 4080 Stevens Creek Boulevard and an upcoming Planning Commission hearing on the matter Wednesday, August 14th. Here is a link to a recent story in the Silicon Valley Business Journal about the proposed Market. http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2013/08/06/walmart-grocery-store-confirmed-for.html
My family and several of my neighbors are very concerned about Walmart moving into the neighborhood and are just as troubled by the way the City of San Jose has essentially steamrolled this project over the public.
We have submitted a petition with over 100 signatures to the City asking them to deny Walmart their request for a permit for off-site alcohol sales at the proposed site on Stevens Creek Boulevard as we have been told that the City has little discretion over anything else. Right now, there are approximately 50 liquor licenses within a 2 mile radius of the proposed site; Walmart's would be number 51! We also have a fair amount of crime in the area and are concerned about attracting more crime to the area and jeopardizing public safety with off-site sales of alcohol until 12am.
Planning staff for the City has been anything but helpful with requests for information. Most recently, the City “accidentally”sent out the public notice for the upcoming Planning Commission and City Council hearings regarding Walmart’s permit requests with the wrong day of the week next to the City Council hearing date on the notice. When we asked planning staff to correct the mistake and resend out the notice so that residents aren’t confused and try to attend the City Council meeting on Wednesday instead of the correct day, Tuesday, August 20th, staff said that because the date was right, they did not have to resend it. When pressed further on it, they agreed only to resend it to people who attended and commented at the initial community meeting that they had quickly noticed about a month ago. Finally, when being told that what they were doing was not legal, staff recanted and said that they would resend a revised Notice out to everyone in a 1,000 foot radius after all.
Staff also recently stated that the public request for a traffic study analysis was determined unnecessary because the City determined that the former use of a Circuit City was similar to the proposed traffic that a major grocery store like the proposed Walmart Neighborhood Market would generate. Comparing traffic generated from a failed store selling electronics and desktop computers is a far cry from traffic that will be generated by a major grocery store at the same site, yet the City will not conduct a proper traffic analysis.
Overall, we just want to get the word out about this project and the upcoming public hearings as the City seems to have already made up their mind about giving Walmart the off-site alcohol sales permit regardless of what the residents who will have to live with the impacts have to think. We appreciate anything you can do to bring light to this project and on what the City is doing. Thank you for your time and consideration."

Source: SVBJ, Anonymous