Neptune Beach, FL. Battles Over Wal-Mart Continue

Battles with Wal-Mart haven’t abated in community [Florida Times-Union]

Even though Wal-Mart settled a lengthy dispute with Neptune Beach in March, others have continued hammering the retailer over its plans to build a Supercenter off Atlantic Boulevard.

Wal-Mart has been hit in the past few weeks by Beaches elected officials, residents still opposed to the concept of the massive store at the Beaches and homeowners and store owners near the planned site in the boulevard’s 600 block.

The Atlantic Beach City Commission agreed Monday to lobby the Florida Department of Transportation against a Wal-Mart proposal to remove four palm trees along an Atlantic Boulevard median in front of the store site to allow more turn lanes. The plan was not in the original development proposal.

“We most strongly request FDOT concurrence with leaving the median and turn lane as they currently exist,” Atlantic Beach Mayor Don Wolfson stated in a letter this week.

Residents south of the site criticized proposed rules pertaining to a wall to be built to reduce sound and other impact on nearby Cherry Street homes.

Prior to the wall’s construction, Wal-Mart attorney Jason Gabriel advised the residents to sign a seven-page “use and entry agreement.”

The document provides a list of stipulations before those residents can use a 15-foot-wide space between the wall and their homes once the barrier is built.

“One of the most absurd documents I have been handed in recent history,” Robin Rutledge wrote in an Aug. 31 letter to Neptune Beach City Councilwoman Harriet Pruette.

Rutledge, who lives south of the planned 117,000-square-foot Supercenter, said she and her neighbors want a wall, but the conditions go too far. “Nice idea about the wall, but not worth this.”

And Wal-Mart is still locked in a legal battle with Aqua East Surf Shop, which is just west of the planned Supercenter site.

The suit, filed in late December in Circuit Court, seeks to uphold a deed restriction on the 14.35 acres owned by Lakeshore Village, which will be leasing the property to Wal-Mart.

Aqua East owner Allison Forsyth said in an e-mail Wednesday the case is set for an Oct. 3 hearing before Circuit Court Judge Lance Day.

Forsyth’s lawsuit is based on her late husband, Sandy Forsyth’s, previous ownership of the Lakeshore property, which he sold in 1987. The terms of the sale included a deed restriction that states, “No buildings shall be erected ... with a rear elevation facing to the west” toward Aqua East.

Pruette said that when she approved the mediation agreement with Wal-Mart in March, she was still skeptical and she thought the retailer would have issues far removed from the city’s approval of the building.

“Wal-Mart is the big giant who promises they’re going to work with you. But when it comes to working with you, it’s their way or no way. That’s the appearance,” Pruette said. “I think Wal-Mart is the big bully and at this point it’s always going to be a big bully.”

Despite hundreds of residents opposing Wal-Mart, Pruette defended the council’s decision to agree, after mediation sessions, to let the retailer build.

“What other choice did we have other than a lawsuit that could bankrupt our city? We couldn’t do anything else,” Pruette said.

Still, Wal-Mart could be more cooperative with the city and especially residents, she said. The retailer should stop changing plans and asking residents to sign off on complicated and “intimidating” legal agreements, Pruette said.

“Until they iron out these details and work with the city and community, I will be skeptical. If things change, I’m willing to be the first to say they’re a good neighbor,” Pruette said. “They came into a small community that, as a majority, did not want them. Now they want us to do everything their way.”