The people of Loomis are proud they were once able to slay a giant that they felt had gotten too close to the town boundaries.

It was their protests and a lawsuit in the 1990s that caused developers of a proposed large shopping center at Rocklin's Sierra College Boulevard and Interstate 80 to abandon the project.

The development later became the Galleria at Roseville.

The Loomis folks are battling again – this time against two more giants in Rocklin. The two major projects abut the Rocklin-Loomis boundaries.

Loomis Councilman Tom Millward said there is little his town can do to stop projects from coming to Rocklin.

"It's their city, and they can do what they want," he said. "But I feel we can still negotiate with Rocklin for the things that affect us. And if that doesn't work, we should go to court.

"So far, we've been talking with them, and they have been listening.

The projects are the proposed Rocklin Crossing at Sierra College Boulevard and I-80 on the south side of the freeway and a big-box store on the north side of I-80.

The 500,000-square-foot Rocklin Crossing would feature a Wal-Mart Superstore, a Home Depot and as many as 18 other tenants.

A housing project adjacent to the Crossing would bring a 177-unit subdivision currently known as Rocklin 60.

On the north side of the freeway at Granite Drive and Sierra College Boulevard, the developer garnered a conditional use permit from Rocklin's Planning Commission for a 138,000- square-foot Lowe's Home Improvement Center store.

Loomis appealed the decision to the Rocklin City Council, which is scheduled to hear the matter Tuesday.

Lowe's has since pulled out, but the owner of the 12-acre property, Paul Petrovich, has indicated he will pursue another tenant.

Despite Lowe's withdrawal, Loomis Town Manager Perry Beck said Loomis will continue the appeal because the size of the project would still affect his town.

Loomis officials are concerned about traffic, noise and air quality impacts, as well as visual blight, linked to developments bordering their town.

Until Lowe's backed away from the Rocklin site, one complaint from Loomis was that only a fence would have divided the store property from Loomis' Hunter Oaks residential neighborhood.

Lights from the store and parking lot would shine into people's yards, residents said.

Sherri Abbas, Rocklin's planning services manager, said an environmental impact assessment was conducted and that a series of mitigation measures will be required of the developer.

The measures include a soundwall and a 20-foot height limit on lighting, she said. The lights also will be required to point downward to avoid shining into yards, she said.

Meanwhile, Rocklin Crossing, the project on the south side of I-80, has hit a slight delay.

David Sablan, Rocklin's assistant planner, said developer Donahue Schriber of Orange County wanted to revise the project's environmental impact report, another document questioned by Loomis.

"We are recirculating the EIR," Sablan said. "There were issues that the applicant felt needed to be addressed – air quality and traffic. But the project itself has not changed."

Beck said the developer wanted to extend Dom-inguez Road so that it would cross the freeway and link with Sierra College Boulevard and into the proposed shopping center.

"But this would create a major arterial on the north side from Del Mar Avenue in Loomis because Del Mar becomes Dominguez Road when it reaches Rocklin," Beck said. "It could literally become a freeway."

Loomis officials felt that such a possibility had not been fully addressed in the environmental report, he said.

Sablan said no date has been set for the EIR hearing.

"It could be late summer," he said.

Loomis Councilman Walt Scherer said the latest developments give him the im- pression that Rocklin is "taking comments more seriously than in the past."

Scherer said his biggest concern with Rocklin's pending addition of the two pro- jects "is how to develop the Sierra College Boulevard corridor without destroying Loomis."

Call The Bee's Art Campos, (916) 773-2825.