A few minor details need to be worked on:

1. The height of the wall along Toreador is drawn as 8'. This wall faces the backside of residences on Pueblo Drive, and we need to find out from the residents if 8' is really necessary, or if something less formidable would suffice.

2. Similarly, the wall along Gilmore St., in the curved section, is also drawn as 8' tall. This means there is no visibility on the approach from the south to the intersection with Topeka (which is actually pretty much the current situation, and it's not good). The residents on Gilmore will decide if this height can be stepped down to get some better visibility and still present an adequate noise and light barrier.

3. On the pedestrian access from the back: It was noted that any official entrance must comply with ADA (the Americans with Disabilities Act). This means that it must be wide enough for a wheelchair to come in; unfortunately, this also makes it wide enough for a shopping cart to go out, and this sinks the idea. There will be no entry like this on day one, but the architect will make a section of the back wall easily removable, just in case we come up with a solution at a later date.

4. A study of traffic flow and counts will be made in order to determine the necessary left-turn lane lengths etc. Numbers will be derived from studies of Whole Foods stores in other cities.

5. We asked the City Engineer to look into the possibility of placing a traffic light in the R.H turn lane from St.Francis to Cerrillos. However, the W.F project is not contingent on resolution of this issue.

In the weeks leading up to Feb 10th, the lobbying was pretty intense, and the union got involved (WF being a non-union shop). Unflattering stories about WF were circulated by a union representative, first by email, and then they appeared pretty much verbatim in the Reporter. A lady from Albuquerque even appeared in the neighborhood spreading strange rumors and generally stirring things up. Very strange all around. In the end, at the City Council meeting, approval was granted. There was a lot of soul-searching among the councillors, and many valid points were made during the 2-hr deliberations.

• The estimated increase in traffic volume (about 3400 vehicles/day, or 10-15% of the current volume on Cerillos) will bring the Cerillos/ Guadelupe/ Don Diego intersection to its full current design capacity. What will happen if the capacity is exceeded in the not too distant future, due to the normal yearly traffic volume increase of about 3%, or due to development across the street in the railyard, is not clear.
  However it was also pointed out that any occupant of the 5-acre lot will likely bring in this kind of traffic.
• The streetscape, formerly a collection of small facades, is now gone, and the new giant building will not offer the sense of small scale that Santa Fe is so loved for. The section of Cerillos out to St. Michaels is in similar danger.
• Along the same lines, it was clear that many councillors would have liked to see a bunch of small businesses on that site, rather than one big one, but there are no mechanisms in place to achieve this.
• On the positive side, there seemed to be unanimous optimism that WF would provide some true competition in the health food sector.