ILLINOIS SITE FIGHT: THE LAWSUIT OF MADISON COUNTY

Wal-Mart foes sue Glen Carbon, developers [Belleville (Ill.) News-Democrat]

A group of Glen Carbon residents on Tuesday filed a lawsuit asking that a judge stop a planned expansion of the village’s Wal-Mart into a Supercenter.

Walter and Susan Hammill, Leon and Jane Mace and Marcel Brown filed the lawsuit in Madison County.

The suit names the following as defendants: The village of Glen Carbon, THF Glen Carbon Development LLC and THF Glen Carbon Parcel W Development LLC, and members of the village’s Zoning Board of Appeals: Lee Wathan, Terry Hartley, Paul Hanson, Anne Hutson, Jim Grover, Nicholas Karidis and Susan Hagopian.

In a printed statement, mayor Robert Jackstadt said, “I am disappointed that village taxpayers will have to pay to defend this meritless claim. I believe in the judicial system and I believe that the court will uphold this Village Board’s decision made on June 12.”

Harold Belsheim, an attorney who was standing in for Terry Bruckert, the village attorney, said he had just received the lawsuit and hadn’t had a chance to review it, so he had no comment.

A representative from THF Realty, the Wal-Mart developer, could not be reached for comment after business hours.

The lawsuit asks that ordinance variances granted by the village for expanding the store be declared void. One variance allowed for the store to have about 260 fewer parking spaces than is required under village ordinance.

Penni Livingston, an attorney for the residents, said THF should have had to show that not allowing the variances would have created a hardship for the developer. Livingston said she told village leaders that the developer’s requests were inadequate.

“They should have played by the rules during this process,” Livingston said. “Instead, they decided that catering to Wal-Mart was more important than honoring the commitment they made to the citizens of Glen Carbon who trusted them to fairly exercise their public duties.”

Livingston also represents a Belleville resident who is seeking to stop THF’s development of a Wal-Mart Supercenter under construction at Green Mount Commons in Belleville. The resident is appealing a judge’s ruling that he did not have standing as a taxpayer to sue.

The Village Board in June approved plans for the Glen Carbon store to expand by about 80,000 square feet.

The lawsuit states that the plaintiffs, who reside near the store, “have suffered damage greater than that suffered by the general public, in that their property values and quality of life will be substantially diminished by additional noise, traffic, runoff, lights and other off-site impacts of a 210,569-square-foot Wal-Mart Supercenter proposed to be placed on the site with the possibility of being operated 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.”

The plaintiffs, their attorney, organizers with GlenEd Citizens for Fair Growth, a group that opposes the Wal-Mart expansion, and others opposed to the development gathered outside Village Hall before a Village Board meeting Tuesday night and addressed the media.

Karen Bracki O’Koniewski, a spokeswoman for GlenEd Citizens For Fair Growth, addressed the Village Board during the meeting.

She said the board had approved the building of “too large a business in too small a space.” She said the choice will impact traffic safety and push out small businesses.

“I’m here tonight to let you know you chose the wrong voices to ignore,” she told the Village Board.

In a news release Tuesday, O’Koniewski said: “Residents of Glen Carbon are not going to sit idly by while the laws that govern our community are tossed aside because our elected officials place a higher priority on tax revenue and corporate interests than the well-being of their constituents.”