Tunkhannock, PA. Wal-Mart Leapfrogs Over Its Own Dead Store
Wal-Mart loves to give trinkets to the natives when it comes to town looking for a permit. In one tiny Pennsylvania town, the natives wanted bluestones. And that’s what they got---sort of. On June 8, 2008, Sprawl-Busters reported that Wal-Mart had scouted a site for a superstore in Tunkhannock township, Pennsylvania, population 4,327 people. The township has had roughly the same population for nearly 20 years.
Tunkhannock promotes itself as being located “within The Pocono Plateau, considered one of the world’s Top 40 ‘Last Great Places’ By The Nature Conservancy.” But Wal-Mart just sees this small town as a Great Place to build a superstore. But there’s a large problem: there’s a Wal-Mart discount store on State Road, Route 29 South in Tunkhannock just across the street from where the corporation wants to build its superstore.
There’s also a Wal-Mart supercenter 17 miles away in Dickson City, and 22 miles away in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. According to the Scranton Times-Tribune, Wal-Mart submitted plans for a 153,000 s.f. superstore just across the street from the existing Wal-Mart store #2024. The project has been under review by the Wyoming County, Pennsylvania Planning Office. The Wyoming County Planning Commission reviewed the project at its June 18th meeting. Wal-Mart has a purchase agreement with the landowner, Select Sires of Ohio. A spokesman for the landowner said the land has not yet been sold. This is a return trip for Wal-Mart. The company was working on a 184,212 s.f. superstore plan for the same property back in 2006, but in the summer of that year, the retailer pulled its application from consideration by the Planning Commission. The county required Wal-Mart to show that it had agreements for certain easements that were needed for right-of-way. Two years later, the new plan does not need those easements, but part of the land does fall into the Bowmans Creek Watershed. Wal-Mart also is seeking approval for 2 small retail parcels in addition to its superstore plan. If the supercenter opens, the existing 75,000 s.f.
Wal-Mart discount store will close down.
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Posted by Al Norman on Friday, August 22, 2008 | Permalink
West Haven, CT. Neighbors Want Wal-Mart To Turn Down The Noise
Wal-Mart Store #3803 at 515 Sawmill Road in West Haven, Connecticut has
been making some noise in the media recently---but its not the kind of
noise the company wants to hear. TV. Channel 8 reports this week that
neighbors of the West Haven Wal-Mart want to give the Mayor of their city
an earful regarding their noisy commercial neighbor. West Haven Mayor John
Picard has an “Office on the Road” program in which he goes out into the
community to listen to the public---and this week he’s going to hear
plenty about Wal-Mart. The city turned a deaf ear to residents when this
huge retail store was being proposed. The neighbors were concerned about
the traffic, light and noise impacts of a store so close to residential
property. This store first opened on March 21, 2007. According to
Wal-Mart’s press release at the time, the new store “brings new economic
benefits to the area.” But all it brought neighbors was more traffic and
noise. At the time, Mayor Picard was effusive in his praise for the
project. “The West Haven community is looking forward to a productive
corporate partnership with Wal-Mart,” Picard was quoted by Wal-Mart’s PR
department. But the 141,980 s.f. store thought that giving the community
“many appealing elements…including earth-tone colors, concrete and wood
laminate flooring throughout the store, wider aisles and energy-efficient
lighting,” would keep the neighbors happy. But neighbors don’t care about
the wood laminate flooring---they say they can’t put up with the racket
the store makes. The store’s Tire & Lube Express, with its hours from 7
a.m. until 10 p.m., seven days a week have forced the neighbors to seek
out the Mayor. Mayor Picard is coming to the Wal-Mart on August 21st for
his ‘Office on the Road’ program, but neighbors in West Haven say they
have been shouting about the noise problems for more than a year, with
little result. One neighbor who works nights, told Channel 8 he can’t
sleep during the day because of the store’s noise. The neighbors say they
have met with Wal-Mart, but the volume is still turned up. The Tire & Lube
Express was designed to be closest to nearby homes. Residents have pleaded
for a sound barrier, or fence, or even air conditioning for the auto
center so the garage bay doors could be closed during store hours. But
Wal-Mart has done nothing. So the Mayor is coming to sit in the Wal-Mart
Personnel Office for 4 hours in the afternoon, and he’s not going to like
what he hears.
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Topics: | Community Impact
Posted by Al Norman on Thursday, August 21, 2008 | Permalink
Liberty, Ohio. Wal-Mart Won’t Sign Agreement To Hire Local Workers
Roughly a month ago, on July 16, 2008, Sprawl-Busters reported that Wal-Mart was desperately trying to find some water for its proposed superstore on Belmont Avenue in the old Liberty Plaza in Liberty, Ohio---but politics was keeping the tap shut. Liberty township’s Administrator, Patrick Ungaro, told officials that Wal-Mart informed him in July that their superstore project is on ice over the issue of water.
Delays on this project are not a new issue. Last year at this time, Wal-Mart indicated that they were putting the project on hold for its own internal reasons—mainly due to a change in Wal-Mart’s growth plans. The township was ready for the project last year. The fire department had approved plans to tear down the existing Liberty Plaza buildings. The only unhappy party was Forum Health—which rented space in the Plaza that they didn’t want to vacate. Forum Health, which used its rental space in the plaza for its finance department, held up the Wal-Mart project for months, because the health care company did not want to pay for moving costs. An agreement was eventually reached between Forum, the plaza’s previous owners, and Wal-Mart.
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Topics: | Community Impact
Posted by Eric Bull on Thursday, August 21, 2008 | Permalink
Clearfield, PA. Wal-Mart Seeks Major Property Tax Abatement For Superstore
Wal-Mart is gaining a reputation for being a tax deadbeat---but there are still many communities that are learning this the hard way. Wal-Mart Supercenter Store #2129 is located at 100 Supercenter Drive in Clearfield, Pennsylvania. When the superstore was being proposed, Wal-Mart told officials in Clearfield that the new store would be good news for property tax revenues. That was before the store opened. Now, the issue of property taxes has become a sore point in Clearfield. It turns out that Wal-Mart thinks its paying the county far too much in property taxes, and wants its bill cut dramatically. The giant retailer took the community to court over its superstore property tax assessment. According to the Gant Daily newspaper, the appeal is now underway at the Clearfield County Courthouse.
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Posted by Al Norman on Wednesday, August 20, 2008 | Permalink
Moon, PA. Citizens File Lawsuit Against Township, Wal-Mart
On June 12, 2008, Sprawl-Busters returned from a site visit to Moon Township, Pennsylvania, reporting that citizens were quickly organizing to fight a proposed Wal-Mart superstore. Initially, the township’s supervisors took one giant step for mankind---by voting against the plan---but one week later they reversed their decision and voted in favor of the Wal-Mart. This sudden change of heart was not brought about by any changes in Wal-Mart’s plan, but because of bad legal advice from the lawfirm hired by the township, who scared the supervisors into believing their own personal assets could be on the line if Wal-Mart sued the township.
The supervisors voted 3-2 against a Wal-Mart preliminary plan for a superstore on July 3rd. But seven days later, at a hastily called meeting on July 10th, they reversed their vote to 4-1 in favor of the plan. Two of the supervisors who voted against the plan said they had “misgivings about the legality of their vote.” All Wal-Mart had to do in Moon was threaten to throw its legal weight around, and the supervisors backed down. Wal-Mart has applied to build a 148,561 s.f. superstore on the site of an abandoned 1960s-era mall known as the West Hills Shopping Center, located on one of the community’s major intersections, University Boulevard and Brodhead road. There are also two major housing developments abutting the project on its western side.
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Posted by Al Norman on Wednesday, August 20, 2008 | Permalink
ANOTHER SETBACK FOR CLOVIS, CA WAL-MART
Judge faults study on Wal-Mart Supercenter [Fresno Bee (Calif.)]
A proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter in north Clovis is being delayed again after a Fresno County Superior Court judge ruled the city did not meet state guidelines in studying water impacts and urban decay.
In a ruling last week, Judge Wayne Ellison said the city of Clovis complied with state guidelines on a host of other issues raised by opponents of the 491,000-square-foot retail center, which includes Wal-Mart and other stores.
But the city needs a revised environmental document that addresses the cumulative effects of urban decay and water availability across a wider area than just Clovis, Ellison ruled.
Ellison will now have to decide whether Clovis can make limited revisions to its environmental report, or will be required to prepare a completely new assessment.
Despite the delays, the project’s developer said the center, at the northeast corner of Herndon and Clovis avenues, will be built.
David Paynter said his company is “committed to the project no matter how long it may take.”
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Topics: Environment | Traffic/Sprawl | Lawsuits | Organizing |
Posted by Joel Nezianya on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 | Permalink
ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS SUE BARSTOW, CA OVER WAL-MART DISTRIBUTION CENTER
Firm Sues Over Wal-Mart DC [Traffic World]
A law firm claiming to represent environmental groups is suing the city of Barstow, Calif., over a huge Wal-Mart distribution center planned for the city.
Briggs Law charges in the suit that the Southern California city did not properly prepare an environmental impact statement on the distribution center. The firm says it represents a group called Build Barstow Smart.
Wal-Mart plans to build a facility of greater than a million square feet on the outskirts of the town, which sits at a key road and rail junction about 125 miles northeast of the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
An attorney at the firm told the Victorville, Calif., Daily Press that the group is most concerned about emissions and water use at the high desert site. Wal-Mart has said there is enough water in the area for the center.
Officials in Barstow have decried the suit and have said there is no coalition behind the law firm, which the newspaper said has sued Wal-Mart and other developers in the region repeatedly in recent years.
Topics: Environment | Lawsuits | Organizing |
Posted by Joel Nezianya on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 | Permalink
Clearfield, PA. Wal-Mart Seeks Major Property Tax Abatement For Superstore
Wal-Mart is gaining a reputation for being a tax deadbeat---but there are still many communities that are learning this the hard way.
Wal-Mart Supercenter Store #2129 is located at 100 Supercenter Drive in Clearfield, Pennsylvania. When the superstore was being proposed, Wal-Mart told officials in Clearfield that the new store would be good news for property tax revenues. That was before the store opened. Now, the issue of property taxes has become a sore point in Clearfield. It turns out that Wal-Mart thinks its paying the county far too much in property taxes, and wants its bill cut dramatically. The giant retailer took the community to court over its superstore property tax assessment. According to the Gant Daily newspaper, the appeal is now underway at the Clearfield County Courthouse.
The county assessed the supercenter on Supercenter Drive at $6.8 million, but Wal-Mart wants to slash that by almost a third to $4.6 million in assessed value. In the appeal, Wal-Mart has presented the method its assessors used to cut the value of their store, and the county has defended its methodology. The case will be decided by Clearfield County President Judge Frederic J. Ammerman. If the retailer gets a break on its taxes, the loss will be felt by taxpayers in Clearfield County, Lawrence Township, and the Clearfield Area School District.
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Topics: Economic/Small Business
Posted by Al Norman on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 | Permalink
