VIRGINIA SITE FIGHT: BIG BOX PLAN STALLS

Decision stalls for big box site plan [The Roanoke (Va.) Times]

BLACKSBURG—Blacksburg residents will have to wait until Tuesday for the outcome of the latest battle over whether a big-box store, rumored to be a Wal-Mart Supercenter, will be coming to town.

The latest scrimmage came Wednesday in a four-hour appeal hearing before the town zoning board. Chairman Wayne Hensley said the complexity of the case, and the need to file additional written support of each side’s position, made it necessary to delay a decision.

Fairmount Properties of Ohio, which got a conditional general commercial rezoning from the town council to develop part of a 40-acre tract on South Main Street, ran into a new ordinance requiring a special-use permit for any retail building larger than 80,000 square feet. The council enacted the ordinance after seeing a new site plan for a 175,000-square-foot store believed to be a Wal-Mart.

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Posted by Beth Gostanian on Thursday, July 26 | 0 comments | Permalink

North Strabane, PA. Newspaper Reader’s Poll Rejects Wal-Mart

You know your public relations are slipping when small town voters say they don’t want your retail store to come to town. Nuclear waste dumps, incinerators---nobody wants that kind of development. But a retail store?

Wal-Mart officials know they rank high on the list of undesirable developments. A newspaper poll released today in the township of North Strabane, Pennsylvania says that people in this little town have had enough of Wal-Mart. North Strabane Township is located in northern Washington County, Pennsylvania, roughly 20 miles southwest of Pittsburgh.

The Township has 10,057 residents and is 27 square miles. The predominance of development in the Township is residential in nature, with almost half its land classified as agricultural. Because the township lies along several major transportation corridors (I-79, I-70, Route 19) the area has witnessed typical highway sprawl. North Strabane has eight Wal-Marts within 20 miles, including five supercenters. The corporate giant already has a supercenter just off the Route 19 exit from Interstate 70 in South Strabane, and is pushing to build a store in nearby West Brownsville along route 40 as well. On June 27th, supervisors in North Strabane approved a preliminary site plan for another Wal-Mart supercenter off the Route 519 exit of Interstate 79.

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Posted by Al Norman on Wednesday, July 25 | 0 comments | Permalink

MARYLAND SITE FIGHT: A ‘MIXED-USE’ BOX OF IDEAS

A ‘mixed-use’ box of ideas [Baltimore Sun]

While Crofton residents expressed jubilation two months ago when Wal-Mart announced it would scrap its plan to build a store along the Route 3 corridor, the property owner and developer didn’t necessarily scrap his plan to bring in a big-box retailer.

William D. Berkshire has pressed ahead on seeking key state approvals to build on the forested 20-acre parcel within the 121,000-square-foot Wal-Mart footprint, all the while talking with several suitors on a variety of projects.

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Posted by Beth Gostanian on Friday, July 20 | 0 comments | Permalink

NEW JERSEY SITE FIGHT: TRAFFIC WORRIES

Wal-Mart traffic generates noise, trash [The (N.J.) Record]

SADDLE BROOK—Living 100 yards from a big-box store is bad enough, but residents in this winding neighborhood north of Route 46 say Wal-Mart customers are practically in their back yards.

Despite clearly marked signs that say “no parking,” customers of a shopping complex containing Wal-Mart, Modell’s and a small furniture store continue to park behind the building—an area that abuts several back yards on Adriana Street.

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Posted by Beth Gostanian on Friday, July 20 | 0 comments | Permalink

SOUTH CAROLINA SITE FIGHT: WAL-MART EYES CAROLINA FOREST

Wal-Mart eyes Carolina Forest [Myrtle Beach (S.C.) Sun News]

A second, new Wal-Mart is in the works for Horry County, planning and company officials said Monday.

Horry County Planning Director Janet Carter said the company submitted preliminary plans for a Wal-Mart at the corner of U.S. 501 and Myrtle Ridge Drive near Carolina Forest.

The site, currently home to a CVS that would become part of the new development, could also have a new Home Depot, Carter said.

As with another planned Wal-Mart in Garden City Beach, traffic is a concern.

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Posted by Beth Gostanian on Tuesday, July 17 | 0 comments | Permalink

Lynchburg, VA. Metting to Discuss Proposed Wal-Mart

Meeting will show plans for proposed Wal-Mart [News and Advance (Va.)]

City officials and Wal-Mart representatives will hold an informal meeting July 31 to show plans for a Wal-Mart proposed for an Old Forest Road shopping center.

The meeting will be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m. in the cafeteria of Linkhorne Middle School at 2525 Linkhorne Drive.

There will no be formal presentation, said JoAnn Martin, Lynchburg’s director of communications and marketing.

“This just gives people an opportunity to come and look at the plans and ask any questions from Wal-Mart and city staff,” Martin said.

Wal-Mart is proposing a 176,000-square-foot store for the Forest Plaza West shopping center. Around it would be space for more retail stores, according to plans.

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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Tuesday, July 17 | 0 comments | Permalink

NORTH CAROLINA SITE FIGHT: GETTING A MAKEOVER

Wal-Mart’s makeover [Rock Hill (N.C.) Herald]

The Tega Cay Wal-Mart few people wanted is setting the trend for Stonecrest, whose shops in front of the supercenter will mirror the Wal-Mart’s village design.

“The town council wanted it to look and feel like a little town,” said Scott Hallihan, managing partner for Stonecrest’s developer. “We took Wal-Mart’s design and made our buildings synergistic with theirs. Pedestrian-oriented. Wide sidewalks, fountains, plants.”

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Posted by Beth Gostanian on Monday, July 16 | 0 comments | Permalink

Independent America: Life Without the Big Box

In 2005, two reporters set out to drive across America in search of Mom-and-Pop stores. Unlike those who have gone before them, this dynamic duo avoided Wal-Marts, chain hotels and side-of-the-road fast food joints in hopes of gaining a better understanding of how Small Town America is reacting to changing economic situations, and what people are doing about it.

From YouTube: