Moscow residents full of questions for Home Depot

Moscow residents pressed Home Depot officials on matters like traffic, jobs and water use during a community meeting Friday in Moscow.

In August, the Idaho State Board of Education unanimously approved a ground lease between Home Depot and the University of Idaho to build a 138,000-square-foot store and garden center on UI land just north of the Palouse Mall. Home Depot plans to open the store in 2025.

According to Moscow’s city code, a large retailer like Home Depot is required to hold a community meeting before establishing a store in the city. Approximately 50 people attended that meeting Friday at the Best Western Plus University Inn.

People who attended, including employees of Moscow-Pullman Building Supply, questioned the officials about the economic effects of introducing Home Depot into a small community like Moscow.

Barry Simmons, Home Depot’s real estate manager, said many smaller businesses actually want to be close to Home Depot stores because they drive traffic to the area.

Dan Zoldak, the site development coordinator for Home Depot, said it will benefit the community by bringing business and jobs to the market. He said Home Depot stores also attract contractors to cities they are located in.

According to Home Depot, the company drives $1 billion in economic activity in Idaho already.

Home Depot plans to hire 150 to 200 part-time and full-time employees in the Moscow store. This topic sparked some debate Friday as the Home Depot officials did not know what percentage of its employees will be part-time.

Alan Espenschade, director of operations for Moscow-Pullman Building Supply, said many local companies primarily hire full-time employees. He said 85 to 90% of Moscow-Pullman Building Supply’s employees are full-time.

To compete with Home Depot’s prices, Espenschade said Moscow-Pullman Building Supply may have to consider hiring fewer full-time employees,”which goes against our entire culture.”

“It’s the ideology of a big box store versus your more small to mid-level mom and pop stores,” he said.

Espenschade assumed that Home Depot would hire a much larger percentage of part-time employees, but the Home Depot officials could not say with certainty what that percentage would be.

“We cannot honestly tell you two years in the future how many part-time employees it will have,” said Eric Douglas, manager of Home Depot’s government relations.

Several people, including Moscow City Council candidate Evan Holmes, brought up concerns about the store’s water use. Holmes asked for Home Depot to show the community a plan to minimize its water consumption.

Zoldak said the store will meet Moscow’s low-flow requirements and use drought-tolerant landscaping. They also appeared open to the suggestion of recapturing rainwater from the store’s roof.

Others pointed out that this does not account for the water required to sustain Home Depot’s garden center. Tyler Garrett, Moscow-Pullman Building Supply CEO, said Home Depot said his store uses hundreds of thousands of gallons of water per year on its nursery.

As for traffic effects, Home Depot completed a traffic study that has not yet been approved by the city of Moscow. Home Depot plans to cover the cost of extending A Street along the front of the store. Zoldak said there will probably be a four-way stop at the A Street and Farm Road intersection.

Garrett said that section of A Street is already busy with traffic, and he is worried the new store will create “a traffic jam for blocks.”

The Moscow store will likely reduce the amount of people driving to the Lewiston Home Depot. Simmons said about 20% of Lewiston’s sales will migrate to the Moscow store.

“I do believe there is a good portion of the community here that would benefit from a Home Depot and actually prefer not to have to drive as far to get some of the materials they need,” Simmons said.

The Home Depot district manager who oversees the Lewiston store did not attend Friday’s meeting.

When asked about the lights outside the Home Depot, Zoldak said the lights will be dimmed after the store closes each night.

Zoldak said he believes the store meets all of the city’s codes, but the plans still have to be approved by Moscow officials. He said the store is not a done deal, but he hopes to start getting construction bids in December or January.

Some questioned why Moscow city officials were not present at the meeting.

Moscow City Supervisor Bill Belknap said that Friday’s gathering was an informal, off-record meeting. He said the city issues permits for this project, so it would not be appropriate for anyone affiliated with the city government to be present at such an event.

“The City is the permitting authority and members of the City’s Zoning Board of Adjustment and City Council may be called to act as hearing examiners to consider any appeals based upon the official record,” Belknap wrote in an email. “As a result, it is not appropriate for staff or the Mayor or City Council to participate in the meeting or gather information outside the official record which could jeopardize their ability to participate as hearing examiners.”

Espenschade said after the meeting he is worried this store signals a paradigm shift for Moscow, which he fears is becoming homogenized like other cities.

“You used to come to Moscow, Idaho, because you could buy a coffee at One World, not Starbucks,” he said. “You could go to Moscow-Building Supply, not Home Depot.”

He said competition is great for the consumer and even businesses, but he is concerned Moscow is losing its identity.

“Everything’s becoming vanilla,” he said.

Kuipers can be reached at akuipers@dnews.com.