KANSAS SITE FIGHT: TAX BREAK APPROVED
Tax break approval given for revamped Wal-Mart location [Kansas City Star]
“This is a baby step to us getting energy back at U.S. 40 and (Missouri) 7.”
| Councilman Ron Fowler
A plan for redeveloping the old Wal-Mart site in Blue Springs and expansion of a nearby Hy-Vee grocery using tax-increment financing was approved Monday.
Officials said it will boost commerce at the intersection of U.S. 40 and Missouri 7.
The City Council held public hearings on a $4.2 million TIF proposed by R.H. Johnson Company, which owns the two sites totaling 25 acres. The Wal-Mart is near the southeast corner of U.S. 40 and Missouri 7 and the Hy-Vee is near the northeast. A former Kmart and other buildings east of Missouri 7 are not part of the TIF.
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Beth Gostanian on Wednesday, June 20 | 0 comments | Permalink
KANSAS SITE FIGHT: LOOKING AT NEW PLANS
Planning commissioners to look at new Wal-Mart [Lawrence (Kan.) Journal-World]
Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commissioners will have a preliminary discussion about plans for a new Wal-Mart in northwestern Lawrence at their June 25 meeting.
Planning commissioners will consider whether new plans submitted by the retailer for the northwestern corner of Sixth Street and Wakarusa Drive are substantially different from previous plans that were rejected by the City Commission. Planning rules dictate that a developer can not resubmit plans that have been rejected unless a substantial amount of time has passed.
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Beth Gostanian on Monday, June 18 | 0 comments | Permalink
Community Impact Assessment Legislation Nears Passage in Maine
Last week, the Maine House of Representatives passed LD 1810, the Informed Growth Act, by a vote of 82-49. This legislation would highlight the true costs of big box development and provide communities with the tools and information to create and sustain vibrant, just, and sustainable local economies.
The legislation has been championed by the Maine Fair Trade Campaign, with the goal of providing cities and towns better tools with which to evaluate the full range of benefits and costs associated with large-scale retail development. It would allow retail development decisions to be made using objective information on how the development would impact things such as existing small business, employment and the cost of public services.
The Maine Senate is expected to vote on the legislation this week.
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Corey Himrod on Monday, June 11 | 10 comments | Permalink
KANSAS SITE FIGHT: EXPLAINING DENIAL
City must explain Wal-Mart zoning denial [Wichita Eagle]
The Wichita City Council didn’t clearly explain why it denied a zoning change that would have made way for a Wal-Mart Supercenter, and now it must formally explain its reasoning, a district court judge ordered Wednesday.
After council members clarify their thinking in an open meeting, the case will go back to court, where District Judge Joe Kisner will decide whether the Jan. 9 zoning denial should stand.
The dispute is over whether the council’s decision was based on conflicts with zoning guidelines or driven by backlash against Wal-Mart.
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Beth Gostanian on Thursday, June 07 | 0 comments | Permalink
Oklahoma & Texas. Wal-Mart Supercenters Create More Traffic Than Projected
If there is a Bible in the world of traffic engineers, it is the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) Manual, which is currently in its Seventh edition. This manual is cited in most zoning cases involving big box stores, and developers play games when using this manual, knowing that most Planning & Zoning Board members are not familiar with its contents or methodology. Because traffic is a major issue in most site fights, community groups often have to hire their own traffic engineers to do a “peer review” of whatever numbers the developer produces. One frequent game developers play is to use an inappropriate “land use code” to describe a Wal-Mart superstore. A developer may call their project a “shopping center,” which is land use code 820, or they may use code 813, which is a free-standing discount superstore, land use code 813. But this latter code is based on a supercenter averaging 161,000 s.f. Both the shopping center code and the 813 supercenter code substantially underestimate the actual car trips that the largest superstores now being proposed will produce. To verify this concern, researchers from the ITE studied 5 superstores in Oklahoma and Texas, with an average footprint of 213,210 s.f. The ITE engineers placed staff at the driveways of each facility, and studied traffic counts from 4:30 pm to 5:30 pm, which was considered the peak weekday hour for these stores. These counts were used to establish the car trips per 1,000 s.f. during the evening peak hour.
These traffic counts were actually done in July and October of 2003, but the results were not published in the ITE Journal newsletter until August of 2006. The ITE staff divided the total amount of car trips in and out of the driveways, and then divided them by the size of the store, expressed in 1,000 square feet. For example, one store had 756 car trips in the driveway, and 708 trips out, for a total of 1,467 car trips in an hour. That total was divided by 204, since the store was 204,000 s.f. The result was 7.l9 trips per thousand square feet. That means the store experienced approximately 733 cars going in and out in one evening hour. The average for all 5 superstores studied was 5.5 peak evening car trips per 1,000 s.f. of store. A typical 213,210 s.f. store studied would generate 1,172 car trips in one hour’s time, or roughly 586 cars. Researchers then compared that to the land use code 813 for a free standing discount store averaging 161,000 s.f., which was 3.87 trips per 1,000 s.f. of store. Using the old formula for a ‘smaller’ superstore when analyzing a store larger than 200,000 s.f. would dramatically understate the true traffic count. “Today’s free-standing discount superstore with sizes greater than 200,000 s.f. have significantly higher trip generation rates that the stores used to supply data for the ITE land use code 813,” the ITE Journal concludes. This study suggests that traffic engineers should use the new, higher trip rates produced in this report when presenting data for superstores like Wal-Marts in excess of 200,000 s.f. The researchers also suggested that the ITE should add a new land use code for “large free-standing discount superstores greater than 200,000 s.f.” The rate for a ‘shopping center’ is definitely not correct for these new, larger supercenters. A superstore at 200,000 s.f. measured by the “old” land use code 813 for a discount superstore, would be 774 car trips in the evening peak hour, whereas using the new land use code for superstores over 200,000 s.f. would yield 1,100 car trips in the peak evening hour---or 42% higher traffic volume.
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Al Norman on Monday, May 21 | 0 comments | Permalink
Kansas Site Fight: Commissioner Not Sorry For Wal-Mart E-mails
Commissioner Not Sorry For Wal-Mart E-mails [Lawrence Journal-World]
Outgoing Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commissioner David Burress is not apologizing for organizing opposition to a proposed Wal-Mart store, even though some elected leaders said his actions damaged the Planning Commission’s reputation.
Burress last week sent out an e-mail providing tips and strategy on how neighborhood leaders could lobby city commissioners to oppose plans for a Wal-Mart store at Sixth Street and Wakarusa Drive. The e-mail — which was distributed to the Lawrence Association of Neighborhood’s e-mail list — was sent just before the City Commission’s discussion of Wal-Mart on May 1.
Burress specifically urged people to oppose the project. Mayor Sue Hack said she was disappointed that a planning commissioner would actively organize opposition to a land-use item that ultimately would go before the Planning Commission for a hearing.
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Corey Himrod on Saturday, May 12 | 0 comments | Permalink
Lawrence, KS. Wal-Mart Fights The Case Of The Shinking Superstore
After nearly six years of wrangling, Wal-Mart and the City Council in Lawrence, Kansas will step into a courtroom later this month, as the retailer tries to overturn a city ruling last October that denied a building permit for a reduced superstore. The trial will begin April 16th, but the cost of litigation has made some city officials nervous about standing up to Wal-Mart. The use of lawsuits has been standard operating proceedure for Wal-Mart. The retailer knows that most cities and towns are reluctant to spend money on lawsuits, so they cave in to Wal-Marts plans.
Lawrence is a perfect case in point. “I don’t know where we’re headed on that issue, frankly,” City Commissioner Sue Hack told the Lawrence Journal-World. “I know I would rather not head to trial on it.”
Commissioner Mike Dever had similar concerns. “If we can avoid spending more money on litigation, and still do what is best for the city, I’m interested in considering it,” he told the newspaper. Mayor Mike Amyx — who supported the supercenter last October — said, “I believe we should always be open to settle matters.” But the landowners are dead set on going to court. The rejected plan would have allowed Wal-Mart to build a 99,840 s.f. store at the corner of Sixth Street and Wakarusa Drive.
Wal-Mart actually began in 2001 with a 200,000 s.f. superstore. That plan was rejected by the city. Wal-Mart took the case to court, and a judge gave the city and Wal-Mart half a year to come up with a smaller plan.
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Al Norman on Monday, April 09 | 0 comments | Permalink
Richard In South Dakota Asks Al…
Richard in South Dakota asks Al:
I am located in south central South Dakota. I think there might be a Wal-Mart in the planning stages in Winner, South Dakota. They are having a planning meeting and using the word as “a new discount chain is coming in.”
Does anyone know if it is Wal-Mart? Is there any list on where new Wal-Marts are to be built in South Dakota?
Thanks, Richard
None of the big box retailers want you, or their competitors, to know where they are going to locate. If the word gets out that Wal-Mart wants a particular parcel too soon, the cost of the land could go up.
Once Wal-Mart has an option to buy land, they don’t have to be so concerned about that. So they are not going to reveal their hand. But there is another reason as well: they don’t want people in Winner, South Dakota to start organizing against them.
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Al Norman on Wednesday, March 07 | 0 comments | Permalink
View Wal-Mart Watch's videos on YouTube