Clark County, WA. Wal-Mart Appeals Denial

Wal-Mart appeals denial of store [The Columbian (Wash.)]

Wal-Mart will ask a Cowlitz County judge to find that Clark County’s commissioners took “arbitrary” and “illegal” action when they blocked plans for a proposed store in Salmon Creek.

Commissioners trumped up problems with the site under pressure from unhappy constituents, the nation’s top retailer argues.

So, Wal-Mart will continue to pursue the store by moving its lawsuit 40 miles up Interstate 5.

A spokeswoman said Monday that the company hopes to avoid the “political decisions” and “negative press” it sees in Clark County.

“We have a track record of having negative political decisions in Clark County,” said Wal-Mart spokeswoman Jennifer Spall.

On Oct. 3, commissioners scotched a two-story retail store proposed for Northeast 134th Street just east of 27th Avenue, saying the plans included an unsafe driveway, relied on a neighboring lot for storm drainage, and hadn’t been properly certified by a traffic engineer.

Wal-Mart and developer CLC Associates appealed that ruling to Cowlitz County Superior Court last week.

Traffic experts hadn’t seen any problem with the driveway, they argued, and any stormwater complications can be fixed in future plans.

And the missing engineer’s stamp isn’t a reason to deny the entire project, Wal-Mart’s lawyers said.

By law, such appeals can be filed in a neighboring judicial district.

Appealing land-use cases to a neighboring county isn’t customary, but it’s not rare, either, said Rich Lowry, the county’s top lawyer for civil cases.

Clark County lawyers will appear in court to defend the commissioners’ actions, Lowry said.

A date hasn’t been set yet.

Members of the Fairgrounds Neighborhood Association, who have funded two years of lawsuits against the project, will also support the county’s effort.

Bridget Schwarz, a leader in the association, said Monday that it will be harder for them to keep tabs on a case in Cowlitz County.

“What they’re trying to do is just make it inconvenient for us,” she said. “I guess I should be glad they didn’t decide to file it in Grant County or East Armpit, Washington.”

Spall, the Wal-Mart spokeswoman, noted Monday that this isn’t the first time her company has seen a bias among Clark County’s commissioners.

In 1997, a different lineup of commissioners rejected plans for the Wal-Mart that now sits on East Mill Plain Boulevard.

After the retail giant appealed that case to a Cowlitz County judge, the commissioners backed down.

Update

- Previously: On Oct. 3, county commissioners rejected plans for a Wal-Mart store in Salmon Creek, citing traffic and storm drainage problems.
- What’s new: Wal-Mart has appealed the decision to Cowlitz County Superior Court, saying the commissioners’ objections are insubstantial.
- What’s next: The county and opponents of the project will cooperate to defend the commissioners’ action.