Copley, Ohio. Residents Organize to Block Wal-Mart Superstore Move
Residents in the Montrose-area of Fairlawn, Ohio has been stewing for weeks over what might happen to them across the road in Copley, Ohio. In late April Fairlawn residents met to talk over a rumored Wal-Mart superstore on vacant land on Rothrock Road.
The Mayor of Fairlawn, Bill Roth, suggested to homeowners who live in the Rosemont Ridge, Enclave, Rothrock Place and Copley Place subdivisions, that they might have to take action to turn their roads into cul-de-sacs—a sort of ‘circle the wagons’ approach to keep cars from cutting through their streets on the way to chinese imports.
The commercially zoned land is located just over the Fairlawn border in Copley Township. The superstore will cause the existing Wal-Mart discount store one mile away to go dark. That store is 110,000 s.f.---the size of some of Wal-Mart’s smaller superstore formats. The Mayor quoted the developer as saying in late April that he is planning a big box store, but would not identify which store it was. ‘’The scary part,” Mayor Roth was quoted as saying by the Akron Beacon Journal, “is we know that sooner or later (this land) is going to be developed, and since it’s outside Fairlawn we have no control over what goes on.’’
Copley Township Trustee Dale Panovich said the developer had only submitted an aerial photo to the township as of late April. ‘’It is not a site plan,’’ she said. ‘’That is all Copley Township has at this point.’’ Roth admitted that his preference is to have Wal-Mart expand its Fairlawn store at the Rosemont shopping center on West Market Street. The owner of the current Wal-Mart site has encouraged them to expand on site. “They are being very closemouthed otherwise,” he told the Akron Leader. ‘’They have the room if they want to do it,’’ Mayor Roth said. ‘’They acknowledge that they could expand and stay on the site. And they acknowledge there is great traffic (for commerce) on West Market Street.’’ The Sam’s Club at Rosemont Commons will stay where it is.
Read the rest of this story ...
Topics: Traffic/Sprawl | Comprehensive Plans
Posted by Al Norman on Monday, May 12, 2008 | Permalink
Pennsville, N.J. Wal-Mart’s Assault On Wildlife Refuge Is Over
A coalition of labor, neighbors, and environmental groups has won an important victory over Wal-Mart and sprawl development. On January 25, 2006, Sprawl-Busters reported that Wal-Mart Realty had chosen a site to construct a 220,000 s.f. superstore abutting the 2,800 acre Supawna Meadows National Wildlife Refuge. This turned out to be not only an environmental blunder, but a public relations disaster for the retailer.
The company is spending millions to look ‘green’ to the public. Part of Supawna Refuge is designated by the Department of Environmental Protection’s Endangered and Non-Game Species Program as a bald eagle and raptor foraging area. The Planning Board in Pennsville had no qualms about allowing Wal-Mart into the Refuge, but that’s when the retailer ran into a legal swamp. A group called COPAS, the Citizens of Pennsville Against Sprawl, fought the project on environmental and traffic issues, among others. Residents said one Wal-Mart in Pennsville, is one more than enough. The existing discount store in the township is 1/4 mile away, and would have been shut down if the supercenter was ever built.
Wal-Mart wanted to build on the Sinnickson farm, 79 acres of land that includes a salt marsh, meadows, and open fields. The superstore footprint alone was 4.6 football fields in size, plus a 1,400 parking lot. The property lies along the headwaters of the Mill Creek, which is one of the most sensitive bird habitats in New Jersey. Mill Creek feeds into the Delaware River, which hosts at least 7 endangered species. In a remarkable piece of rationalization, Wal-Mart suggested that creating 22 acres of impervious surface, and a major increase in stormwater runoff, was actually good for the wildlife refuge. A Wal-Mart spokesman said the supercenter would protect the watershed by filtering out pesticides and fertilizer residue in the soil from draining into the watershed. This is the same retailer who has been fined by the Environmental Protection Agency for its shoddy construction practices, which led to the siltation of nearby streams in several states. COPAS and the Stop Wal-Mart NJ coalition pressured the township’s planning board to adopt an ordinance that would bar “big box” stores. “It’s become a huge issue here,” Mayor Tom Strong told the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Read the rest of this story ...
Topics: Environment
Posted by Al Norman on Monday, May 12, 2008 | Permalink
Chicago, IL. Wal-Mart Blown Out Of The Windy City
Wal-Mart got a bad case of the Chicago blues this past week, as a big wind of opposition blew the retailer out of the Windy City, and all the way back to its Arkansas compound. Wherever it has gone in urban areas, Wal-Mart has slammed into opposition from organized labor---something the company never experienced in the small towns of Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma during its birth years. In Chicago, the issue was not over zoning, but over wages.
The Chicago City Council passed a “living wage” ordinance, but on September 19, 2006, Mayor Richard Daley vetoed the legislation, which would have forced large corporations to pay a “living wage” to its workers. The City Council voted 31-to-18 to override his veto, coming just 3 votes shy of the necessary two-thirds needed to override. The ordinance would have set minimum pay and benefit levels for any major retailer with a store 90,000 s.f. or larger. Wal-Mart issued a press release immediately which said: “We will open our first store in the city on Chicago’s west side later this month. This store will show what a great asset Wal-Mart can be to the community, as an employer and corporate citizen, and as an affordable resource for thousands of Chicago’s working families.”
It never worked out that way. Wal-Mart had hoped to open 20 stores in city. Thus far they have opened one 142,000 s.f. discount store on the west side of the city---but only after a very contentious political debate. Two years earlier, in August of 2004, Wal-Mart pulled out of its effort to build a store on the south side of Chicago. The company cited its concern over the living wage bill as the issue. “It’s not about a living-wage issue,” a Wal-Mart spokesman said at the time. “It’s about an ordinance that singles out just some—not all—businesses in Chicago. We wanted to defer the discussion until we got a better sense of how this big-box thing was going. We’re just not comfortable committing considerable capital investment to a site when we don’t know if we’re going to be able to operate in Chicago. The developer, rather than extending our contract, decided to go ahead with the [zoning] vote. It’s not our call. The project is going ahead without us.”
Read the rest of this story ...
Topics: Community Impact | Economic/Small Business | Workers Rights & Wages
Posted by Al Norman on Monday, May 12, 2008 | Permalink
Bennington, VT. Wal-Mart’s Plans “Substantially Incomplete.”
Wal-Mart is going nowhere fast in Vermont. The state currently has only 4 Wal-Marts, and now that it is trying to expand the ones it has, the company has run into opposition at every turn. Its St. Albans, Vermont store plans are under appeal, and its Bennington, Vermont plans were ruled this week inadequate.
On April 6, 2005, Sprawl-Busters reported that residents in Bennington had voted in a special election to remove a 75,000 s.f. cap on the size of retail buildings. Wal-Mart has had a 52,000 s.f. store in the Monument Plaza in this community of less than 16,000 population since 1995, when the giant retailer moved into an existing mall.
60% of Bennington’s voters did not even go to the polls, so the real winner in Bennington was apathy. The size cap was enacted by Bennington officials in December of 2004, after a three year planning process. The owner of the Wal-Mart project, Redstone Investments, wanted to increase the store to 112,000 s.f. Ironically, when Wal-Mart first came to Bennington, they pledged to the community that they would not need to seek expansion of the store. It’s been more than three years since the Bennington size cap was removed, yet no Wal-Mart expansion has taken place.
Several days ago, the District 8 Environmental Coordinator announced that Redstone’s “Act 250” application was “substantially incomplete.” Act 250 is Vermont’s regional land use planning law, and is considered one of the most thorough such statutes in the nation. It was first enacted in 1971. The state official told the Bennington Banner that developer Jonathan Levy of Ohio, submitted inadequate information in nine areas of the application. “They’re all kind of the same thing — being outdated,” the state official told The Banner “Most of it was prepared in 2005 and today is 2008.”
Read the rest of this story ...
Topics: Environment
Posted by Al Norman on Monday, May 12, 2008 | Permalink
New Scotland, NY. Town Passes Six Month Moratorium Under Threat of Big Boxes
New Scotland, New York describes itself as “the best kept secret of Albany County.” This small town, population 8,711, says on its website, “Today, this Jewel continues to charm and allure residents with its rural characteristics, suburban, agricultural and commercial qualities.”
This charm and quiet secret is being disrupted by a developer’s plans to construct a 750,000 s.f. big box mall on a 179 acre farm in one of the town’s 7 villages, Voorheesville, which has only 2,764 people. The goal of New Scotland is to “strive to preserve this beautiful region,” so the big box proposal has become one of the most controversial projects in the history of this community.
The town’s comprehensive land use plan states that residents want commercial enterprises that meet their needs and that the stores not be a regional draw. In other words, residents in the town of New Scotland do not want big-box malls. Recently, the New Scotland planning was asked to impose a six month moratorium on all retail projects in excess of 30,000 s.f. The planning board voted not to support the moratorium, claiming that they did not have enough information about the proposal.
But this week, 500 people packed the Voorheesville High School auditorium as the Town Board voted unanimously to put the moratorium in place. One speaker against the plan told the Board the huge project---which includes an unnamed big box anchor---was “unwarranted, unwanted, and unnecessary.” The Cazenovia, NY.-based developer, Sphere Development, has said the project will not be anchored by a Wal-Mart, and some speculation has turned to Target. But the community could get stuck with either. The plans call for a half-dozen smaller retailers, a Shakespearean amphitheater, farmers market and environmental park. But it was the big box and the scale which created a furor in town.
Read the rest of this story ...
Topics: Comprehensive Plans
Posted by Al Norman on Friday, May 09, 2008 | Permalink
Cudahy, WI. Wal-Mart & Soccer Team Fail to Score A Goal
Not even an entire soccer team could help Wal-Mart score a goal in Cudahy, Wisconsin. Cudahy is a small community with just over 18,000 people and a motto on the city’s border which reads, “Generations of Pride.” The vision for the city’s future is a revitalized downtown that will become the “heart of the South Shore.” The city is right in the middle of updating its Comprehensive Plan, and one of its most prominent goals is creating a “vital downtown.” The emphasis is on high quality of life, pedestrian-oriented development. That’s why the idea of a new Wal-Mart supercenter ran into rough going in Cudahy from the start. For one thing, the community doesn’t need another Wal-Mart. There are currently ten Wal-Mart’s within 20 miles of Cudahy, including a discount store 5 miles away in Milwaukee, and a supercenter 18 miles away in Sturtevant, Wisconsin. The idea of a supercenter surfaced in November of 2007, when Wal-Mart offered to build their store in an abandoned site called Iceport.
According to CudahyNow, many of the 100 people who came to that first information meeting were cool to the idea of the retailer using the Iceport parcel. “We do not need another outlet for cheap Chinese crap,” one of the evening’s speaker said. The developer, Continental Properties, outlined tentative plans for the “Cudahy Station,” a 26-acre parcel on E. Layton Ave. and the Iceport Way. The Cudahy Wal-Mart was presented as a 137,577 s.f. store. This is on the smaller end of Wal-Mart supercenters, but a company spokeswoman added, “We need to start looking at some of these smaller prototypes because that is what the customer wants. (The Cudahy store) would be a more flexible prototype, something that you have never seen before.”
Read the rest of this story ...
Topics: Community Impact | Economic/Small Business | wffm
Posted by Al Norman on Thursday, May 08, 2008 | Permalink
Cornelius, OR. Wal-Mart Puts Another Superstore On Ice
It’s springtime in Cornelius, Oregon, but the proposed Wal-Mart supercenter is a cold as ice. On August 6, 2005, Sprawl-Busters reported that after being rejected in Hillsboro, Oregon, in Washington County, the retailer, and its developer, PACLand, had turned its gaze to Cornelius.
Wal-Mart’s proposal started out as a 204,278 s.f. superstore on 16 acres of land. A citizen’s group, Cornelius First was formed to fight the proposal. At the time, the President of the Cornelius Chamber of Commerce told the Oregonian newspaper, “I really feel that we have sufficient of that type of business. We need more of a small-town flavor.” The project hearings began in December of 2005. PACLand, the developer, asked the city to rezone a portion of residential land to commercial. The Cornelius City Council by one vote approved a comprehensive land use plan amendment in February, 2006. Cornelius First appealed the city’s approval to the State Land Use Board of Appeals. Traffic was a major concern at the site.
Wal-Mart’s developer estimated less than 6,800 car trips to the store, which was clearly a self-serving figure in the absence of a independent study. Wal-Mart offered about 10% of the funding needed to improve the intersection near its proposed store---but state taxpayers would have to foot the balance of at least $1 million. One opponent told The Argus newspaper, “It appears to me the Cornelius mayor is on the fast track for approval. I don’t think he takes into account Wal-Mart’s potential negative impacts on his community.” In September of 2006, the LUBA ruled against the residents. Wal-Mart said it would break ground as early as January, 2007. Cornelius First argued to the LUBA that the City Council did not address how a Wal-Mart could cause traffic problems and threaten the surrounding neighborhood and city’s economy. The board dismissed those arguments largely on technicalities.
Read the rest of this story ...
Topics: Community Impact
Posted by Al Norman on Wednesday, May 07, 2008 | Permalink
Lake Wylie, SC. Residents Want More Than Wal-Mart’s ‘Old Blue Box.’
Neighbors in Lake Wylie, South Carolina are going to learn the hard way that to negotiate with Wal-Mart, you need leverage. According to the Rock Hill Herald newpaper residents in Lake Wylie have gathered a petition to urge Wal-Mart to make its proposed supercenter more attractive than the usual big box fare. The newspaper said the residents decided not to fight Wal-Mart---but to approach the giant chain store “the old-fashioned way—by asking nicely.” More than 250 residents in the Landing neighborhood of Lake Wylie have signed a petition asking Wal-Mart to allow ‘resident input’ before building their store. “A lot of times with things like this, people just end up complaining,” said Jacqui Marquez, a Landing resident.
“What we wanted to do is to galvanize people in a positive direction.” The group began with the assumption that they could not prevent Wal-Mart from opening a store in the Mill Creek Commons development. Having made that major concession, there’s little left for residents to do except try to put pearls on the pig. “We just hope it looks nice,” Marquez told the newspaper. “We want it to have a certain look and keep the feel of Lake Wylie as we know it.”
According to the Lake Wylie Chamber of Commerce, the community is a “vibrant and thriving” place “where geography, people and economic vitality have fashioned a distinctive Southern lifestyle.” Lake Wylie is described as having a “comfortable, small town atmosphere” with “convenient proximity” to regional commercial centers. In short, “the perfect setting to live and do business.”
Into this perfect setting comes a Wal-Mart supercenter. The absurdity of this situation is that Wal-Mart recently opened a new supercenter across the lake in Tega Cay, South Carolina, roughly 5 miles away from Lake Wylie, and there is another superstore 7 miles away in Charlotte, North Carolina. In fact, there are 12 Wal-Mart stores currently within 12 miles of Lake Wylie, ten of which are superstores. So this ‘distinctive Southern lifestyle’ is being crowded out by suburban sprawl. In Tega Cay, Wal-Mart used its “village superstore” format, which takes the façade of the building and makes it look like a series of small retail shops, using different building materials, roof lines, and elevations. But just behind the “skin” of the store, is the big box, with all its adverse impacts on the environment.
Read the rest of this story ...
Topics: Community Impact | Traffic/Sprawl
Posted by Al Norman on Wednesday, May 07, 2008 | Permalink
