Wal-Mart Stores v. The Vermont Environmental Board, 1996
Topics: Environment | Lawsuits
Wal-Mart appealed a decision by the Environmental Board that declined a Wal-Mart application for St. Alban’s, Vermont, arguing that the state should not have considered the store’s potential adverse impacts on town tax revenues, and other factors as part of ermont’s Act 250. The Supreme Court affirmed that it was appropriate for the Board to consider the project’s impact on market competition. To the extent that a project’s impact on existing retail stores negatively affects appraised property values, such impact is a factor that relates to the public health, safety and welfare. The court affirmed that state law requres review Boards to “consider the growth caused by the project (secondary growth), the anticipated costs to the town and region, and the financial capacity of the town and region to accommodate the growth… When a project will result in commercial development and.. added strain on the financial abilities of affected local government, the Board must have sufficient evidence to determine whether an unreasonable burden would be placed on those governments.” The St. Alban’s, VT case largely turned on the issue of economic impact, and the Vermont Supreme Court found that the board did not err in its interpretation of the law, and of the importance of economic impacts on the general welfate of a community.
