SEATTLE — This story was originally published on MyNorthwest.com
WinCo Foods‘ plan to move into North Seattle has been stalled after a hearing examiner overturned the city’s environmental approval.
The low-cost grocery store intended to move into the former Sam’s Club location at 13550 Aurora Avenue in Seattle.
“We’ve talked about this many times. Grocery stores are becoming less and less prevalent in this area, which makes it harder for people in areas that they then call ‘food deserts’ to find options,” KIRO host Jake Skorheim said.
According to the hearing examiner, the city made a key error in how it evaluated the project’s environmental impact. The City of Seattle drew up its proposal by comparing it to a previously operating big-box store, rather than as a vacant building, which has been the current state of the lot since 2018.
The examiner called this error “completely erroneous.”
This decision comes on the heels of the largest grocery store merger in U.S. history being blocked by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), in conjunction with attorneys general from Arizona, California, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Wyoming, the District of Columbia, and Washington. Then Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson, now the governor of the state, was one of the most vocal opponents of the merger.
“There are claims that if they can’t merge and be competitive with these super box stores, like Costco, like Amazon, then we’re going to have to close some stores, and you’re going to have some loss of opportunity in these communities,” KIRO host Spike O’Neill said. “Bob Ferguson got that anti-trusted and shut it down, and it seems like he’s got it completely wrong in the fallout of his decision and the fight that he won in court to keep the merger from happening.”
The hearing examiner’s ruling was inconclusive as to whether the project would cause significant environmental harm, meaning the opening of a WinCo in North Seattle could still proceed. There was no evidence revealed that the proposal would result in a significant environmental impact.
“But, more importantly, there’s evidence that the local grocers, the UFCW 3000 workers’ union, has a history of being anti-Winco for the purpose that it is a non-union shop,” Spike added.
Watch the full discussion in the video above.
Listen to “The Jake and Spike Show” weekdays from noon to 3 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.