The Lopez Village Planning Review Committee reviewed the San Juan County SEPA (State Environmental Policy Act) file for the Lopez Food Center on July 22 and agreed to send a comment letter raising traffic, sight‑line and construction‑phase concerns to county staff.

Planning staff told the committee the county issued a Mitigated Determination of Nonsignificance (MDNS) for the Food Center after reviewing environmental checklists including potential impacts to earth, water, noise and traffic. “In this case, the determination is a mitigated determination of nonsignificance,” Sophia Cassel, planner with the Department of Community Development, said, describing the SEPA process and noting that mitigation was proposed for impacts such as wetland buffer encroachment.

Committee members pressed that the primary unresolved issue is life safety related to driveway siting, vehicle queuing and pedestrian access. A committee member described the likely traffic pattern as including drive‑through or queued vehicles for the food distribution facility, and raised the risk of vehicle idling on Weeks Road. “Our concerns are the traffic hazards, but there’s environmental pollution if all those cars are sitting on Weeks Road,” the member said.

Members also raised specific design concerns: the driveway for a recent housing development appears to be closer to an intersection than county spacing standards would normally allow; a proposed water tank that had previously been shown underground now appears above ground and could create a sight‑line obstruction at an already fast segment of Weeks Road; and the committee requested a construction‑phase staging plan to limit off‑site parking, idling and noise during building.

Sophia Cassel advised the committee that SEPA comments should be sent to the planner named on the SEPA cover sheet for this permit (the cover sheet lists Darcy Nielsen). The committee agreed to finalize a comment letter that documents traffic and life‑safety concerns and to deliver it both to the planner on the SEPA notice and to county public works.

The committee voted to finalize and submit the letter. Barb moved to finish the letter and send it to Darcy and Sophia; Bill seconded; the motion passed with all members saying “Aye.” Planning staff noted remaining permit review steps for the project include critical area review, final land use review, stormwater review, public works driveway access review and fire marshal sign‑offs — steps the committee said must be informed by the committee’s comments before any site work begins.

Committee members also will send a copy of their concerns to the Food Center and to the facility operator; they asked Public Works staff to pull the permit file for the Housing Lopez development so the committee can confirm driveway spacing and other technical details.