IOWA CITY COUNCIL APPROVES ZONING REQUEST

Activists keep trying to prevent Wal-Mart Supercenter [The Daily Iowan]

Local anti-Wal-Mart activists are becoming increasingly concerned about the possibility of a new Wal-Mart Supercenter in Iowa City.

A proposal to amend a zoning agreement and allow for the construction of a new Wal-Mart Supercenter on Highway 1, replacing an older Wal-Mart will come before the Iowa City City Council later this summer, having been approved by the Planning and Zoning Commission on July 3.

Gary Sanders, who heads Iowa City Stop Wal-Mart, said he is frustrated by the local government’s willingness to hold discussions with Wal-Mart. According to Sanders, Wal-Mart has broken zoning agreements in the past.

Westport Plaza, the location of an existing Wal-Mart store, 1001 Highway 1 W., was rezoned in 1989. The 1989 zoning agreement called for the development not to consist of individual, unrelated buildings; instead, each building should relate to one another.

While Wal-Mart was not a participant in the agreement, the responsibility to uphold the agreement was passed onto Wal-Mart when it purchased the property, according to memorandum to the Planning and Zoning Commission.

Westport Plaza at present includes Wal-Mart, a Staples office supply store, and an empty former Cub Foods store.

Sanders alleged that Wal-Mart is breaking the zoning agreement, and the corporation’s unwillingness to abide by current zoning agreements should bar the city from granting zoning privileges to Wal-Mart, the world’s largest private employer.

“Why are we even doing business with these people if they didn’t even abide by the agreement of the development of land years ago?” Sanders said. “It was supposed to be numerous smaller stores as well as the big boxes, and that was not done.”

According to Planning and Zoning Commission meeting minutes, Wal-Mart plans to demolish its existing store on Highway 1 - as well as Cub Foods and Staples buildings - to construct a new Supercenter.

According to Wal-Mart’s website, the company has 11 regular stores and 47 Supercenters in Iowa.

Posted by Joel Nezianya on Monday, July 07, 2008