UTAH SITE FIGHT: CONCERNS FOR SMALL TOWN

Wal-Mart interrupted [The Salt Lake Tribune]
City is still deciding whether to approve retailer’s request to rezone Kmart

Plans for a Wal-Mart in the heart of Sugar House, known for its distinctive local stores and small-town charm, appear to be on hold.

City officials are still deciding whether to approve Wal-Mart Stores’ April request to rezone its property. The world’s largest retailer wants to tear down the aging Kmart building it bought in 2004 and replace it with a 113,620-square-foot Wal-Mart, as well as an attached 8,700-square-foot covered garden center.

But there’s a hurdle. Under current zoning rules, Wal-Mart is allowed to remodel the existing building. It can’t raze the building and construct a similar commercial structure.

“If we are turned down on the rezone application, we certainly will operate out of the existing building. Unfortunately the existing building is a pretty aged building,” Wal-Mart spokeswoman Karianne Fallow said. “Quite frankly, we would like to make a building that not only meets the needs of shoppers, but is visually appealing as well.”

Whatever the outcome, the store would be one of Wal-Mart’s smaller stores. A typical Supercenter selling a mixture of groceries and general merchandise typically averages between 180,000 and 200,000 square feet.

Despite the company’s promise to construct a building that blends tastefully into the neighborhood, the Supercenter has kindled strong feelings among the 22 trustees of the Sugar House Community Council.

The council hasn’t taken a position yet on Wal-Mart’s rezone application. Nor does it have the power to deny the request. The council acts as an advisory body to the Salt Lake City Council, which will have the final say. The city’s Planning Commission will also have a role, but for now, no hearings on the rezone are scheduled.

Philip Carlson, chairman of the Sugar House council, opposes the rezone. He said a previous owner of the property at 2705 E. Parleys Way agreed to the current zoning rules in exchange for zoning flexibility on another property.

“I don’t care what the business is, whether it’s Wal-Mart or Kmart or Target or any other business, the thing I’m concerned about is that it stays with the current zoning, with the current types of businesses” in the area, he said.

Art Haddow, a vice-chairman of the council, supports the rezone. He thinks many people oppose a change because they don’t like Wal-Mart.

“I fear that they will use their hatred of Wal-Mart [to oppose the rezone] because they don’t like Wal-Mart for Wal-Mart, and they will not judge it for what it will do for the community,” Haddow said.

The new store would include a landscaping package and “green” features such as skylights that cut the need for artificial illumination during the day and can be closed at night to prevent light from escaping. Wal-Mart would also install new sidewalks and flatten the parking lot, which is currently sloped.

The Bentonville, Ark-based retailer says its research shows that the neighborhood is underserved by retailers. The store would serve more than 23,000 households within two miles of the store, Wal-Mart says.

“We plan to invest a significant amount of money and resources into the redevelopment of this site, eventually providing the community with a store that is appealing to the eye, technologically modern and environmentally progressive,” Fallow said.

If the rezone is denied, the company says it plans only minor building modifications and would not spend money on landscaping or the parking lot.