NEW YORK SITE FIGHT: WAL-MART OPPONENTS FACE NOVEMBER DEADLINE
WALMART: Smart Growth faces November deadline [Lockport Union-Sun & Journal (N.Y.)]
Smart Growth of Lockport has until mid-November to state the specifics of its appeal to stop construction of a Super Walmart on the site of the vacant Lockport Mall.
The state Court of Appeals heard a request by Walmart late last month to either dismiss Smart Growth’s case for its lack of stating specific grounds of its appeal, or to set a deadline date for the filing, according to Town of Lockport Attorney Daniel E. Seaman.
The court set Nov. 21 as the date by which Smart Growth must file its appeal particulars, Smart Growth attorney Daniel Spitzer said Monday.
When notice of appeal is filed, the plaintiff has up to nine months to state its case, Spitzer has said. Smart Growth filed notice of its intent in early June, meaning it could have had until early March 2009 to put its particular grievances in writing. The court’s ruling on Walmart’s request thus speeds up the timetable.
Preparing the appeal isn’t the arduous part, Spitzer said; it’s compiling the record of municipal proceedings that cleared the way for Walmart to build on the mall site. Smart Growth will make the deadline, he added.
Also see: Deadline set in appeal by Wal-Mart foes [Buffalo News (N.Y.)]
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Topics: | | Community Impact | | |
Posted by Luke West on Tuesday, October 07, 2008 | Permalink
Atascadero, CA. One Candidate Supports Limit on Superstore Size On November Ballot
The Presidential election will be the preoccupation of millions of American voters on November 4th, but residents in one small California community will be focusing on a local vote with big impacts as well. One month from now, voters in Atascadero, California will go to the polls to decide whether or not to place a cap on the size of retail buildings. To prevent the initiative from passing, Wal-Mart is spending money on voter identification, TV ads, and other local organizing. They’ve got a super-size budget to spend on the Atascadero election.
Dozens of communities across California and the nation have used a size cap to limit the scale of new development in order to preserve character and quality of life, and to mitigate the adverse effects of traffic and environmental impacts. On December 18, 2007 local residents in Atascadero filed an initiative petition entitled “Taxpayers’ Initiative Ordinance To Reduce Costly Effects Of High Intensity Urban Development By Preserving Atascadero’s Unique Small Town Character.” Measure D-08, called the Atascadero “Shield Initiative”, prohibits commercial buildings in excess of 150,000 s.f., and prevents any store in excess of 90,000 s.f. from having more than 5% of its gross floor area dedicated to nontaxable goods, such as groceries. On the same day that voters take up this ballot question, they will also elect three new members to the Atascadero City Council. On July 7, 2006, Sprawl-Busters reported that the Rottman Group, a developer based in San Luis Obispo, California, announced that it had “concluded negotiations with Wal-Mart to partner in the development” of a project known as The Annex. Rottman said Wal-Mart has purchased 26 acres of land in the project area on the southeast parcel of The Annex. The Rottman Group called Wal-Mart “a strong anchor for the proposed project.”
Rottman said at the time, “We recognize that there are many issues surrounding the possible location of a Wal-Mart in Atascadero. We are not ignoring public comment, but are asking residents to give Wal-Mart a chance to introduce itself, correct misconceptions and make a case for why it will benefit Atascadero.” The Rottman Group claimed that The Annex would “bring people to Atascadero – including its downtown.” “We see our proposal as a win-win situation for Atascadero,” the developer said, “ providing shopping choices and significant new retail sales tax to help the city.” To try and fit into the city’s zoning code, Rottman scaled back its store, and on February 4, 2008, Sprawl-Busters reported that Wal-Mart had returned with plans for a 146,507-s.f. store on Del Rio Road---a cut of about 25% in building size.
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Topics: Organizing
Posted by Al Norman on Monday, October 06, 2008 | Permalink
Plans to build a Supercenter near Civil War battlefield taking heavy criticism
We’ve been following a story in recent weeks about how Wal-Mart wants to build a 141,000-square-foot supercenter on the edge of Wilderness Battlefield National Park in central Virginia. The plan came under heavy opposition in July by several historical/environmental/civil war preservation groups, collectively known as the Wilderness Battlefield Coalition, when they drafted a letter to Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott. The letter expresses the deep concern many feel over the proposed store:
This Super Wal-Mart would be built within one-quarter mile of the National Park and would pave the way for desecration of the Wilderness with unnecessary commercial growth. Such a large-scale development is inappropriate next to a National Park.
The Civil War Preservation Trust has launched an entire website to spread the word and garner support against the plan. They were quoted this week in an article from NBC-29:
According to Brent Lawrenz of the Civil War Preservation Trust, “It’s going to put a tremendous pressure on Route 20 which is 2 lanes and they’re proposing to re-route part of it through key battleground area.”
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Posted by Luke West on Friday, October 03, 2008 | Permalink
NEW HAMPSHIRE SITE FIGHT: HOOKSETT STORE GOING ‘GREEN’
New Hooksett Wal-Mart planning to go ‘green’ [Union-Leader (N.H.)]
HOOKSETT – The new Wal-Mart, slated to open next summer, announced plans this week to design an on-site treatment plant to process in-store wastewater.
Attorney Amy Manzelli of Concord-based firm Sulloway and Hollis attended a Hooksett Conservation Commission meeting Wednesday and briefed members on ways Wal-Mart intends to make the store a little more environmentally responsible.
By decreasing the size of the building from 224,000 to 162,000 square feet—a plan laid out last spring—and by processing wastewater on site, Wal-Mart says it wants to help reduce the impact on surrounding wetlands, Manzelli said.
“Wal-Mart is making an effort to green its stores,” Manzelli said. “That’s what we’re trying to do with this project.” The store is currently under construction on the corner of Bemus Road and Route 3A.
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Topics: | | Environment | | |
Posted by Luke West on Friday, October 03, 2008 | Permalink
London, Ont. City Agrees To Independent Study of Wal-Mart Plan
One of the most salient features of the land use process in America is the total reliance on experts hired by the developer. Across this nation, thousands of Planning and Zoning boards listen to hours of testimony presented by engineers and land use consultants who have been hired by developers and big box retailers to sell their project. Public boards are left swimming in a sea of techno-babble and engineering imponderables.
Citizens groups are forced to retain their own experts-—an expensive proposition---to present data that is not colored by the developer. The same biased process is at work in Canada, where this week one small community managed to convince its elected officials to use independent consultants to measure the impact of a proposed Wal-Mart supercenter. That could spell major problems for the Arkansas-based retailer, because the site they have chosen in London, Ontario is the last place you would locate a 225,000 s.f. superstore. According to this week’s London Free Press, residents in the Meadowlily Woods neighborhood of London have submitted thousands of names on petitions, and turned out hundreds of people to hearings against the Wal-Mart project. Residents demanded that their elected officials have the project reviewed by unbiased eyes.
The land in question is surrounded by woods, is considered a “heritage site” and is located in a residential neighborhood with lots of open space. The City Council was apparently moved by the strength of this citizen response, and is expected to insist that the developer, Smart Centres, allow the city to hire the experts who will take apart their plan. Smart Centres describes itself as “Canada’s largest and most-active retail developer and operator…committed to bringing value to Canadian communities through a large-scale, unenclosed shopping centre format that is adapted to each market it is located in.” Smart Centres claims it opens a new shopping center every three to four weeks, and is currently managing and developing more than 185 SmartCentres. These centers are strategically located in every major market across Canada, with the majority anchored by a Wal-Mart store.” Neighbors say regardless of who the developer is, this location on the southside of London just makes no sense. “It’s not about Smart Centres. It’s not about Wal-Mart . . . It’s about (what’s best for) London,” Gary Smith, who lives across from the project, told the Free Press. To date, Smart Centres has rolled out its own experts to evaluate the effect of what is referred to as “the mega-plaza on the woods.”
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Topics: International | Community Impact | Zoning Regulations | Canada
Posted by Al Norman on Friday, October 03, 2008 | Permalink
St.Albans, VT. Vermont Governor To Appear At Pro-Wal-Mart Rally
It’s payback time in Vermont. Wal-Mart has donated to Vermont Governor Jim Douglas’ re-election campaign, and now the Governor is returning the favor by speaking at the company’s rally in the town of St. Albans on October 4th. The rally is designed to show support for Wal-Mart’s controversial supercenter project in St. Albans, which has been headline news for 15 years.
On April 22, 2008, Sprawl-Busters reported that Wal-Mart has been rejected once in St. Albans by the state. The company is now in the thick of its second attempt to push its way onto a cornfield across from the St. Albans Drive-In, just off Route 89, a few miles south of the Canadian border. Wal-Mart lost its first attempt in 1995 in a case that went all the way to the Vermont Supreme Court. In this second try, local officials in the town have again given the store its blessing, as well as the regional commission set up under Vermont’s Act 250 land use control law.
The city of St. Albans which abuts the town, has opposed the project because of the damage the superstore will do to the downtown. A neighboring developer that has a Price Chopper grocery store as a tenant is also fighting the Wal-Mart. The Vermont Natural Resources Council (VNRC) and local residents have filed the legal paperwork needed for a “Motion to Alter” to ask the District 6 Commission to reverse its position and rescind the granting of an Act 250 permit that would allow the Wal-Mart superstore. In addition to the VNRC, the citizen’s group the Northwest Citizens for Responsible Growth (NWCRG) and farmers Marie Frey and Richard Hudak, appealed.
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Topics:
Posted by Al Norman on Friday, October 03, 2008 | Permalink
Wal-Mart slapped with another copyright infringement suit
Wal-Mart and rapper-turned-fashion-designer, Master P (Percy Miller) are being sued by a London-based jeans designer, Pepe Jeans London LLC, the latest in a long line of copyright infringement suits brought against the retailer. Hip hop site BallerStatus (which, by the way, gets the award for coolest publication we’ve ever referenced) has the full story: Pepe alleges that the stylized “P” logo used for Wal-Mart/Miller’s “P. Miller” jeans infringes on Pepe Jeans’ logo, which also features a stylized “P.”
Master P And Wal-Mart Sued By Pepe Jean [Baller Status]
In documents filed in a Manhattan federal court last week, the company alleges that the logo infringes on the Pepe Jeans P logo, which is a stylized P enclosed in a circle. They also cite the use of the logo on P. Miller jeans’ hangtags.
This isn’t the first time Wal-Mart has been sued over copyright infringement. Earlier this year, Wal-Mart settled a long-standing copyright infringement lawsuit with Adidas, says a September 4, 2008 article in Footwear News:
In the original lawsuit, filed in August 2005, Adidas accused Wal-Mart of violating and diluting its trademark. The athletic brand’s complaint derived primarily from the retailer’s sale of shoes and sandals with two stripes. Adidas claimed the designs aped its three-stripe trademark.
Wal-Mart has also been sued for selling ‘fake’ Fendi Purses and Tommy Hilfiger shirts. From a 2006 article in BusinessWeek:
In 1998, after many rounds in court over several years with Tommy Hilfiger [Wal-Mart] paid out $6.4 million to settle a lawsuit that it was selling fake Hilfiger brand T-shirts. And in 1999 it paid more than $1 million to Nike (NKE) after being sued on similar charges.
Topics: Lawsuits | |
Posted by Luke West on Thursday, October 02, 2008 | Permalink
CANADA SITE FIGHT: RESIDENTS: 1, WAL-MART: 0
Residents battling Wal-Mart win round [London Free Press (Canada)]
Residents near London’s Meadowlily Woods have won a major battle with the world’s largest retailer, Wal-Mart.
A drive that delivered hundreds of people to public meetings and thousands more to sign a petition now is in position for a big win at city hall.
Politicians on the planning committee want the city to set the pace and agenda for deciding what development is best for a south London tract surrounded by the woods, a heritage site and a neighbourhood with homes and open space.
If council follows suit, as appears likely, those hired to evaluate the area’s needs would be selected and paid by city hall rather than by the developer, Smart Centres, which builds big-box malls often anchored by Wal-Mart.
That makes all the difference, community activists say.
“It’s not about Smart Centres. It’s not about Wal-Mart . . . It’s about (what’s best for) London,” said Gary Smith, who lives on Meadowlily Road across from where the developer wants to build 225,000 square feet of retail space.
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Topics: | | Community Impact | Crime & Safety | Economic/Small Business | Traffic/Sprawl | | | | Canada
Posted by Luke West on Thursday, October 02, 2008 | Permalink
