MINNESOTA SITE FIGHT: WAL-MART SEEKS APPROVAL IN APPLE VALLEY
Wal-Mart back with grocery proposal [Pioneer Press (Minn.)]
Wal-Mart will appear yet again before the Apple Valley City Council seeking permission to expand its 150th Street store.
Neighbors’ concern about noise and the location of loading docks continues to be a thorn for the project. The City Council will take up a new plan next Thursday after tabling the proposal — the company’s third in as many years — last week.
Wal-Mart wants to add a grocery section to its current store. Neighbors, including Council Member John Bergman, are worried about noise from added truck traffic and expanded loading docks that come with a bigger store. Bergman said he would be willing to vote for the expansion if the docks were moved.
“I hope they work with the community and come up with something,” Bergman said.
Neighbors thought those negotiations were over. In 2006, Wal-Mart withdrew its initial proposal after neighbors near the west side of the property cited noise concerns, and the City Council asked for revisions. The company came back in 2007 with a plan that moved the docks to the building’s east side. The council eventually approved the plans.
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Posted by Luke West on Thursday, October 02 | 0 comments | Permalink
Apple Valley MN. Wal-Mart Expansion Plan Back For A Third Try
On May 6, 2006, Sprawl-Busters narrated the story of residents in Apple Valley, Minnesota who were fighting a developer, Tradition, who had proposed building a SuperTarget in their neighborhood in the Cobblestone Lake development. The city of Apple Valley has roughly 55,000 residents, and already had a SuperTarget in the city, 2 miles from the site of the proposed second Super Target. Neighbors raised concerns about noise and the location of loading docks. The proposal was the company’s third in as many years. Apple Valley ended up with two super Targets, and now another big box wants to expand its footprint. According to the Pioneer Press, Wal-Mart has targeted Apple Valley for a discount store expansion into a supercenter. The same issues that came up with the super Targets are surfacing again. City Council member John Bergman told the newspaper that neighbors are worried about noise and expanded loading docks that come with a bigger store.
But Bergman, it appears, is already prepared to compromise. He told the Press that he will to vote for the expansion if the loading docks are moved. “I hope they work with the community and come up with something. If the loading docks don’t move, my vote will be not for expansion.” Bergman said. For neighbors, Wal-Mart has returned from the dead. In 2006, the Arkansas-based retailer pulled the plug on its proposal in the face of strong community opposition. The following year, in 2007, Wal-Mart turned up again with a new plan that moved its loading docks from the west side of the structure, to the east side. That proposal was ultimately approved by the City Council. But last week, Wal-Mart submitted a third version of its supercenter---this time 16,600 s.f. smaller, but with the loading docks back on the west side. Neighors of the current Wal-Mart discount store at 150th Street west, say delivery trucks are currently keeping them up at night. Apple Valley Mayor Mary Hamann-Roland has asked Wal-Mart to change their truck delivery times to cease at 10 pm, and start up again at 6 am. Wal-Mart said they could control their own trucks, but not necessarily the delivery trucks owned by their vendors.
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Posted by Al Norman on Thursday, October 02 | 0 comments | Permalink
OHIO SITE FIGHT: LEGAL VICTORY IN LIBERTY
Judge: Township wrong in Wal-Mart fight [Columbus Dispatch (Ohio)]
A federal judge has ruled in favor of landowners enmeshed in a legal battle with Liberty Township over a proposed Wal-Mart store in southern Delaware County.
The 34-acre parcel that the Wedgewood Limited Partnership owns at Sawmill Parkway and North Hampton Drive was proposed as the site of a Wal-Mart Supercenter.
Liberty Township officials in 2004 denied a zoning permit when they determined that the 220,598-square-foot building exceeded a cap on square footage the township had set for the Wedgewood Commerce Center district.
But Judge Algenon L. Marbley, in a decision issued Friday in U.S. District Court in Columbus, ruled that the township’s reasoning in denying the permit was unconstitutionally vague and that subsequent actions violated the partnership’s constitutional right to due process.
Marbley did not grant the partnership’s request to order the township to issue a zoning permit, but he threw out “the township’s cap as it was applied to the Wedgewood district.”
Attorney Bruce Ingram, who represents Columbus developer Charles J. Ruma and other members of the partnership, said yesterday that he did not know if plans for the Wal-Mart will be resurrected. But Ingram said his clients will seek “attorneys fees and ‘very substantial’ damages.”
Earlier this year, Wal-Mart ended a contract it had held since 2002 with the partnership that granted the company an option to buy the land once a zoning permit was obtained.
Curt Sybert, chairman of the township board of trustees, said he will not comment on the case until the board has consulted with its attorneys.
Posted by Luke West on Wednesday, October 01 | 0 comments | Permalink
WISCONSIN SITE FIGHT: TOWN NEGOTIATES WAL-MART SUBSIDY
County will negotiate on?Wal-Mart costs [Spooner Advocate (Wisc.)]
The Washburn County Board voted 18-3 on Tuesday night, Sept. 16, to authorize the Executive Committee to negotiate with the city of Spooner, Wisconsin Department of Transportation (DOT), and Wal-Mart to address the concerns of Wal-Mart that off-site road improvements are $1 million above what the Fortune 100 retailer is willing to spend for a proposed Spooner Super-Center.
On Wednesday, aug. 27, Wal-Mart asked for a meeting of city, county and DOT officials to discuss the cost of off-site road improvements to accommodate a 100,000-square-foot Supercenter on the northwest corner of Cty. Hwy. H and Hwy. 53. Wal-Mart said the $4 million-plus for improvements is $1 million more than the corporation is willing to spend.
Posted by Luke West on Friday, September 26 | 0 comments | Permalink
ILLINOIS SITE FIGHT: TINLEY PARK CELEBRATES WAL-MART DEFEAT
Tinley Park residents rejoice that Wal-Mart backed out [SouthTown Star (Ill.)]
As a public works employee in Sauk Village, Dave Overocker digs ditches, fixes water pipes and makes sure sewers are flowing properly.
Years of hard work helped Overocker and his family save enough cash to buy a home two years ago in Brookside Glen, the largest subdivision in Tinley Park where homes go for nearly $400,000.
A 24-hour Wal-Mart Supercenter was the last thing Overocker wanted near his back door.
“That particular style of retailer ... it’ll bring your property value down,” said Overocker, whose back yard looks out on a sod farm that was slated for massive development. “I’m sorry. It just will. Nothing against (Wal-Mart).”
Overocker was rejoicing Thursday at news that Chicago-based Aetna Development Corp. withdrew its application last week to build a 370,000-square-foot retail center anchored by a 24-hour Wal-Mart.
Also see: Tinley Park, IL. Wal-Mart Gives Up Superstore Dream For Sod Farm [Battle-Mart Blog]
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Posted by Luke West on Friday, September 26 | 0 comments | Permalink
Etna, OH. Wal-Mart Suddenly Drops Superstore Project
This week, Wal-Mart opponents in a small Ohio community won a sudden—and unanticipated---victory against the world’s largest retailer.
On July 11, 2005, Sprawl-Busters reported that residents in Etna, Ohio had organized to fight off a proposed 203,819 s.f. Wal-Mart supercenter on the east side of Route 310, across from a housing development. There is a Wal-Mart superstore about 10 miles away in Ashland, Kentucky, and four other supercenters within 22 miles of Etna. The trade area is saturated with Wal-Mart stores. “Wal-Mart is attempting to purchase land in Etna Township, Ohio (near Pataskala). The majority of Etna is farmland, corn fields, trees and wildlife,” one resident wrote in 2005. “There are only two small housing subdivisions. Most of the residents here enjoy the ‘small town’ atmosphere (we are only 15 miles or so from Columbus) and so was the reason for moving in this area. We are devastated that Wal-Mart is attempting to build. Our home, for instance has a beautiful tree line and cornfield to view. We perish the thought that we may soon be viewing the back of a Wal-Mart Supercenter and listening to the sounds of trucks and honking horns.”
On June 8, 2008, almost three years after that first report from Etna, Sprawl-Busters noted that Wal-Mart was still battling to get into Etna, and one man’s legal battle was all that kept them from building. Plaintiff Gilbert Guttentag kept Wal-Mart from starting work on their site. The retailer told the Newark Advocate newspaper that it wanted to have a store open by the end of 2008. In June of 2008, the District Court ruled that Guttentag had filed his appeal of the second permit in a timely way, and they sent his appeal back to the Licking County Common Pleas Court. While these legal cases were in process, the landowners and Guttentag also sued each other.
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Posted by Al Norman on Friday, September 26 | 0 comments | Permalink
Tinley Park, IL. Wal-Mart Gives Up Superstore Dream For Sod Farm
Wal-Mart has disappeared below the mud on a former sod farm just outside of Chicago. On March 9, 2008, Sprawl-Busters reported that Wal-Mart was knocking on the door of the village of Tinley Park, Illinois, which already has 17 Wal-Mart stores within 20 miles of the village’s borders---including a supercenter less than 4 miles away in Orland Hills, Illinois. According to the South Town Star newspaper, Wal-Mart’s initial plan to construct a 24-hour super store at 191st Street “got nothing but negative reaction.” This community is only 21 miles from downtown Chicago.
It has “easy access” to a trade area of 600,000 people and a metropolitan market of 9 million. Tinley Park Mayor Ed Zabrocki says over 4 million people reside within a 25 mile radius of his village. “Our excellent location has attracted continuing prime business and hospitality industry development…Tinley Park is home to major shopping areas serving our growing community and the surrounding region.” The location Wal-Mart coveted is near dozens of homes, so Tinley Park’s Plan Commission rejected Wal-Mart’s site plan. “The proximity of this big-box location (to the homes) ... is totally unacceptable,” one Commissioner told Wal-Mart. His comments drew cheers from the audience of about 60 opponents at the March hearing. “The residents were here first.”
A Chicago developer called Aetna Development has submitted plans for the “Prairie View Crossings,” which has no prairie and no view. The 370,000 s.f. retail complex is about the size of 8 football fields, not counting the parking lots. Within that complex, the shopping center would be anchored by a 176,000 sf. Wal-Mart supercenter. The 83 acre site is owned by the Lincoln-Way High School District 210. It was slated to be used for a high school at one time, and before that was just a sod farm. This is Aetna’s second bite of the apple, because it originally came in with a store that was over 200,000 s.f. in size. But the updated “smaller” store didn’t gain any accolades this time either. The Plan Commission, and the village’s planning director told Wal-Mart representatives that their project “lacked creativity,” and that they had failed to show why this land should be used for a retail mall.
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Posted by Al Norman on Friday, September 26 | 0 comments | Permalink
WISCONSIN SITE FIGHT: DEBATING WHETHER TO SUBSIDIZE THE BIGGEST COMPANY IN THE WORLD
Subsidizing Wal-Mart project is fuel for debate [Washburn County Register (Wisc.)]
SHELL LAKE – The Washburn County Board made a motion Tuesday, Sept. 16, to meet with the city of Spooner and legal counsel to work on a joint recommendation for helping keep the Wal-Mart project in Spooner going.
Wal-Mart has been dealing with the city and county for a few years on building a store in Spooner, on CTH H between Hwys. 63 and 53. The company’s representatives recently met with the city administrators, the county and the Department of Transportation to let them know the expenses for infrastructure improvements at the site were beyond budget, and had gotten to be around $4 million. According to the executive committee, Wal-Mart was having trouble justifying some things within the budget that were putting the project in jeopardy, and wondered if there was any way the town and county could help.
At the committee’s meeting the week before, Supervisor Tom Mackie had said he was under the impression the company needed $1 million from the city, county or both to continue.
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Posted by Luke West on Thursday, September 25 | 0 comments | Permalink
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