San Jose Planning Department planner Jeff Roche said Albertson's application for a conditional-use permit to operate 24 hours a day and expand and remodel its store was submitted in November 2003 and is still under review.

John Gibbs, former Willow Glen Neighborhood Association president and owner of a home in the Willow Glen Pines townhome complex, said that Albertson's representatives need to step up and do a broader community outreach.

Gibbs said none of the homeowners have issues with the remodeling and expansion, they just want to have open communication with Albertson's if anything becomes a problem.

"They have been responsive in the past, but we'd like to suggest ways to mitigate potential problems while it's still in the initial planning stage," he said.

Gibbs said association members would like the store to construct a masonry wall to lessen the noise and upgrade ventilation covering on the roof of the store to reduce noise and visual impacts.

So far, residents don't know much about the project's details. Gibbs said that is part of the store's communication problems with the community.

Albertson's representatives who shared initial building plans with the Willow Glen Neighborhood Association board in September 2003 said they were meeting with the townhome association to present Albertson's plans.

Gibbs said Albertson's representatives did meet with the Willow Glen Pines property manager and two board members in September, but a general meeting has not taken place with the association's homeowners.

Gibbs also told the Willow Glen Neighborhood Association at its February 2004 meeting that, to date, discussions have been limited to representatives from Albertson's and Willow Glen Pines management. The neighborhood association had been under the impression that Albertson's had met with the all the townhome owners.

"It's troubling to me that WGNA's thinking it's been taken care of," he said. "It could fall between the cracks."

And storeowners within the shopping center would also like to know what to expect from its largest tenant.

The Medicine Shoppe, which will be required to relocate in order to accommodate Albertson's expansion from 23,000 square feet to 32,000 square feet, has been waiting for years to hear what will happen, said owner Richard Kitajima.

"As far as I know they don't have [any permits] yet," Kitajima said.

Willow Glen Neighborhood Association board member Matt Hall said he doesn't understand the reasoning behind making that Albertson's a 24-hour store.

"It's smack dab in the middle of a residential area," Hall said. "It would make more sense if it was on a street as busy as Hamilton Avenue."

The San Jose City Council approved the shopping center's rezoning from "commercial pedestrian" to "commercial neighborhood" in April 2003 after no public comments were made.

The San Jose municipal code defines a commercial pedestrian zone as retail stores operating within the character of nearby residential neighborhoods, but commercial neighborhood zoning indicates commercial uses.

The rezoning applicant, Bob Bearden of Craig and Grant Architects in Danville, requested the rezoning on behalf of the property owner, Asset Management Group in San Diego.

And even though he acknowledges he bought a home next to a shopping center, Gibbs said, "The normal process is to engage the immediate neighbors and later the broader community. I'm still waiting for that process to occur."

The San Jose Planning Department plans to schedule a community meeting in the future, but a date has not been finalized. For more information on the Albertson's project, email jeff.roche@sanjoseca.gov.