It will likely be January before the Portola Valley grocery store once known as John’s Valley Foods reopens as Roberts market at the corner of Alpine and Portola roads.
Owner George Roberts said he is used to Portola Valley-related questions from customers who patronize his Woodside store. “They’re always asking about when it’s going to happen,” he said.
Bureaucratic processes have delayed a planned November opening in Portola Valley of a new version of what has become a Woodside institution. “The systems that are set up to wind your way through are the biggest problem,” Mr. Roberts told the Almanac. “It just takes so long to do.”
The amended building plans have been in the hands of the town’s plan-check consultant for another round of analysis, mostly concerning structural and load-bearing elements, said Town Planning Manager Leslie Lambert.
Plan-check is complete and a building permit should be issued this week, Ms. Lambert told the Almanac on Friday.
“This one is important,” Mr. Roberts said. With a building permit, he can go ahead with electrical work, heating and cooling, plumbing and a mezzanine. This interior work will establish the store’s personality, Mr. Roberts said.
The 2,000-square-foot mezzanine, a new feature, would house the store offices and an employee lounge, Ms. Lambert said.
The architectural design team includes grocery store design specialist Sutti Associates, based in Burlingame. Asked if planning staff had been in unfamiliar territory in talking with a firm that specializes in grocery stores, Ms. Lambert said that that was not the case and described the relationship as “a good working balance.”
The other project hurdle will be amendments to the conditional use permit, which can cover the impacts of exterior noise, exterior lighting and delivery schedules — matters that neighbors may want to weigh in on. The use permit must be brought up to date and geared specifically toward Roberts market, Ms. Lambert said.
A staff report on use-permit amendments will go to the Planning Commission for preliminary review, then to the ASCC, then back to the Planning Commission for a public hearing and a decision, Ms. Lambert said.
‘Typical grocery store’
Employee hours will be from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., Mr. Roberts said, with the last employee probably gone by 8:30 p.m. Employees gathering in parking lots before or after hours is unlikely, he added. “One thing about (store employees) is they don’t hang around.”
Employee coming and going will be discussed in granting amendments to the use-permit amendment, Ms. Lambert said. The employee parking lot will also have landscaping intended to protect residential views and dampen noise, she said.
The loading dock will have a 6-foot-long sleeve to enclose the rear end of trucks and damp down the noise of goods and produce being unloaded, Mr. Roberts said. Parked trucks will have to have their engines and refrigeration units shut down.
The trash compactor out back will be enclosed in its own roofed shed, Mr. Roberts said.
“This isn’t going to be any different than a typical grocery store,” he said.
