Planning commission continues Walmart expansion after neighbors raise safety, light and noise concerns

The Rancho Cordova Planning Commission on Tuesday continued consideration of a Walmart Supercenter expansion on Folsom Boulevard after residents and commissioners raised concerns about lighting, noise, deliveries and long-standing maintenance issues.

Lindsay Morrow, senior environmental planner, told the commission the applicant seeks a 5,149-square-foot east-side expansion to add an online grocery pickup area, with related signage, striping, paint and accessibility upgrades. Morrow said the site at 10655 Folsom Boulevard contains a 122,175-square-foot Walmart and that the project would remove 12 trees and result in a net loss of eight parking stalls, while the lot would still exceed the code-required spaces. Staff recommended the commission find the proposal exempt from further California Environmental Quality Act review under CEQA Guidelines section 15301 for existing facilities.

Neighbors described years of operational problems behind the store. "Walmart's lights shine directly into every rear bedroom in our homes," said Barbara Lindsey, a homeowner behind the store, who submitted photos and a neighborhood petition and asked the commission to deny the application or require enforceable preconditions including full cutoff shielding meeting the 0.1 foot-candle standard in RCMC chapter 23.725, compliance with posted delivery hours and an overnight noise limit. Sarah McMinn, a nearby homeowner, said she paid $900 to replace a fence after a vehicle drove through her yard and said surveillance footage was not available without a police report.

Commissioners pressed staff and the applicant about photometric measurements that show existing exceedances at some residences, repeated code complaints at the property, and whether the city could require corrective actions before approving an expansion. "Is there a reason that we wouldn't require the applicant to address and make those corrections as part of this process?" a commissioner asked. Morrow said the photometric plan is preliminary and a final plan is required at building permit, and that some historical issues had been addressed when staff became aware of them.

Britney Mariscal, the city's code enforcement manager, told the panel the city has handled roughly 19 cases at that property since 2021 of varying types, confirmed the one light fixture was hooded and that case closed, and described the enforcement process as primarily complaint driven while noting staff can take proactive action when a pattern emerges.

Jacob Blais of Kimley Horn, the project's civil engineer, and Walmart representatives said they reviewed alternative locations such as the garden center but rejected them for circulation and safety reasons; they offered to "conduct a photometric study of the entire rear drive aisle" and to correct lighting to meet code. The store manager said new security contractors and extended parking-lot patrol hours are already in place and that the store has upgraded camera equipment.

Commissioners asked whether a concrete masonry (CMU) sound wall or other permanent screening could be required, and staff and the city attorney noted potential constraints from utility easements and easement-related access rights. Public Works principal engineer Falk Knob said the expansion as proposed does not trigger the city's traffic-study thresholds because it utilizes existing parking and online operations already occur at the site, but he offered to evaluate the intersection if the commission requests an updated study in coordination with police data on U-turns and violations.

After extended discussion about lighting mitigation, noise monitoring, sound-wall feasibility, surveillance and the possibility of relocating pickup, a commissioner moved to continue the item to a date uncertain so staff and the applicant can address the commission's concerns. The motion was seconded and passed on a 5-0 roll call vote.

City staff said neighborhood services and code enforcement managers will follow up with residents and offered to meet with neighbors to inventory outstanding issues and to treat recurring matters as open code inquiries. The commission did not take a final action on the project's design review and left the public hearing closed while the case is continued.

What happens next: staff and the applicant will return with revisions and any additional studies or conditions requested by the commission; staff offered to coordinate enforcement follow-up with residents who wish to provide documentation.