Clinton, MI. Wal-Mart Refuses To Pay For Road
Wal-Mart hit another speed bump this week in Clinton, Michigan. On August 10, 2007, Sprawl-Busters reported that Wal-Mart’s lawyer was threatening to take the township of Clinton to court, because “they want to deny a Wal-Mart.” The retailer thought Clinton would make a nice place to build a 176,311 s.f. superstore on the corner of Hall Road and Romeo Plank. But the Trustees in Clinton voted unanimously in August to table the site plan--citing traffic, layout and landscaping concerns. The Trustees wanted Wal-Mart to build a boulevard from the store property, leading out to Romeo Plank so drivers can reach a Michigan turnaround to head north. “We feel as a board, unanimously that turning north onto Romeo Plank would be extremely dangerous” without it, Supervisor Bob Cannon said. The Trustees also want Wal-Mart to consider reducing its 24-hour-a-day operation-—as other towns in Michigan have required.
Residents from the Patridge Creek housing subdivision attended the August hearing, expressing grave concerns about the scale and location for the supercenter. One resident said, “We were under the impression it’s going to be an outdoor, high-end mall. We were never told there would be a Super Wal-Mart, 24-hours a day with an entrance on Romeo Plank.” Neighbors collected at least 600 signatures protesting the Wal-Mart location. After the August hearing, Wal-Mart’s lawyer, was quoted as saying, “They made demands of us we do not believe are permitted by law. It is obvious what they are doing---they want to deny a Wal-Mart.” This week, the delays only continued, when Trustees voted to send the Wal-Mart proposal back to the planning commission for more study. On September 4th, the Board of Trustees voted unanimously to have the Planning Commission review their approval for the $25 million project, according to The Macomb Daily. The Trustees want more information on traffic safety changes Wal-Mart has consented to in other Michigan communities--but has refused to do in Clinton. But Wal-Mart’s attorney has apparently reached the end of his road. “The township has made it perfectly clear they are opposed (to the store) and will send this back and forth and make us go through hurdles to delay us so we’ll leave town,” the attorney told The Daily. Wal-Mart says a new boulevard is not part of the design, and they won’t pay the estimated $250,000 to get it built.
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Posted by Al Norman on Friday, September 07 | 0 comments | Permalink
New Report Calls Wal-Mart Environmental Initiatives “Smoke and Mirrors”
A new report jointing published by 23 organizations across the country calls on Wal-Mart to reframe its sustainability efforts so that workers, the environment and communities are all respected. The report examines several specific areas where Wal-Mart falls short of its claim of environmental-friendliness. Areas of focus include Wal-Mart’s organics, seafood, wood sourcing, product packaging, dangerous toys, contributions to global warming, energy use, and waste quantities. The report goes on to incorporate workers’ rights and community impact analyses, retaining a wholistic view of Wal-Mart’s business model overall. From the introduction:
Nearly two years ago, Wal-Mart CEO H. Lee Scott announced a bold initiative to turn the world’s largest company green. A long-anticipated fi rst progress report on these sustainability goals is expected to be released soon. In advance of the company’s report, 23 environmental, farm, labor, and other civil society groups have offered their own critiques of Wal-Mart’s approach to
sustainability.Some of these critiques focus on specific Wal-Mart commitments and offer recommendations for change. Others argue that even if Wal-Mart achieved all of its stated goals, the company’s
business model makes it inherently unsustainable. All of them remind us of what’s at stake by demonstrating Wal-Mart’s huge and often devastating impacts on real people and places in the
United States and around the world.
Click here to download the full report from the Big Box Collaborative.
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Thursday, September 06 | 2 comments | Permalink
IOWA SITE FIGHT: BOARD RULES DESPITE CITIZENS’ OBJECTIONS
New Wal-Mart approved by city board [The Fairfield (Iowa) Ledger]
Plans for a 98,000-square-foot Wal-Mart Supercenter in Fairfield can move forward.
Despite protests from an overflow crowd at the Fairfield City Hall Council Chambers, the city’s Board of Adjustments voted unanimously Tuesday evening to grant the business a conditional-use permit to build a facility larger than 15,000 square feet. The board did not, however, grant the company a variance to the city’s landscaping requirements.
During the public hearing, several people expressed concerns about an expansion’s effect on the local economy. Fairfield resident Catherine Castle said she witnessed the damage to local businesses when Wal-Mart first came to the community. Fairfield has revived its local businesses, and the businesses deserve the opportunity to flourish, she said.
“Why do we need a larger Wal-Mart?” Castle asked. “This one serves this town very well.”
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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Thursday, September 06 | 0 comments | Permalink
ILLINOIS SITE FIGHT: RESIDENTS FIGHT BACK
Residents rally against Wal-Mart [Edwardsville (Ill.) Journal]
Lawsuit filed over store’s expansionMinutes before Tuesday night’s Glen Carbon Village Board meeting, members of the Glen-Ed Citizens for Fair Growth group announced that they had filed a lawsuit against the Village of Glen Carbon.
Joined by their attorney Penni Livingston, members of organization said they plan to fight the expansion of Wal-Mart.
Named as plaintiffs in the suit are Susan and Walter Hammill, Jane and Leon “Bud” Mace and Marcel Brown.
“This afternoon we filed a lawsuit on behalf of Mr. and Mrs. Mace and Mr. and Mrs. Hammill, and also on behalf of Marcel Brown. They are all within 1,200 feet of the Wal-Mart development. They belong to the Glen-Ed Citizens for Fair Growth and they’re really mad. They hired a lawyer to sue the city and the developer,” Livingston explained to a small crowd outside of Village Hall.
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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Wednesday, September 05 | 0 comments | Permalink
MICHIGAN SITE FIGHT: WMT PROPOSAL SENT BACK TO COMMITTEE
Clinton Twp. sends Wal-Mart proposal back [The Detroit News]
Township trustees on Tuesday night sent back to the planning commission for reconsideration a proposal by Wal-Mart to open a supercenter at the busy corner of M-59 and Romeo Plank.
With the vote to send the plan back, the trustees continue to butt heads with Wal-Mart representatives. Trustees are hoping to get at least some of the concessions the corporation has given other Michigan communities in recent months. Township attorney Jack Dolan pointed out concessions Wal-Mart has made regarding reduced store hours in Livonia and traffic safety issues in Fenton and Shelby Township before board members voted Tuesday evening.
“There seems to be a lot of evidence that Wal-Mart with many municipalities displayed an attitude they’re willing to look seriously at issues that may affect the surrounding neighborhoods and communities,” Dolan said.
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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Wednesday, September 05 | 0 comments | Permalink
Easy Steps for Overcoming Local Opposition
We couldn’t resist this sly commentary on big box development’s approach to fighting local opposition to their stores. This op-ed columnist from the LA Times makes crushing citizens’ groups sound so easy!
How to build whatever you want [Los Angeles Times]
Progress without strategy is regress. Time and again a new Wal-Mart or airport runway that would enable investors to make as much money as they want or consumers to travel twice as often from here to there is stalled by the Taliban mentalities of local resistance. Fortunately for America and its future, a formula exists whose careful application seldom fails. It deserves to be better known. Here it is.
Delay announcing your development for as long as possible. Never underestimate the element of surprise. This is not merely a matter of catching your opponents off-guard. Most people have an entrenched fatalism, as evidenced by the number of lottery tickets they buy. To give the appearance of a fait accompli is to take on the authority of fate. It was bound to happen. Whatcha gonna do?
Never lose an opportunity to outlast your opponents by outspending them. If there’s a formal approval process, do everything in your power to prolong it. Amend your proposal. Reschedule your testimony. The new paradigm of “let them eat cake” is “let them hold a bake sale”—again and again.
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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Wednesday, September 05 | 1 comments | Permalink
MICHIGAN SITE FIGHT: WAL-MART TO PRESENT REVISED PLANS
Wal-Mart to present revised supercenter plans [Detroit News.com]
Township trustees tonight will reconsider a site plan for the proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter at Hall Road and Romeo Plank after asking the company to take another stab at traffic issues, landscaping and other matters.
The Board of Trustees voted Aug. 6 to table the site plan for 30 days to allow Wal-Mart to resolve concerns about the project on nearly 28 acres at the southwest corner of the intersection.
Thomas Kalas, an attorney for the developer, said last week the township has no say in making Wal-Mart pay for road improvements or dictating the hours of operation.
“The (county) road commission has signed off on our plans. They feel it is safe,” Kalas said.
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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Tuesday, September 04 | 0 comments | Permalink
ILLINOIS SITE FIGHT: THE LAWSUIT OF MADISON COUNTY
Wal-Mart foes sue Glen Carbon, developers [Belleville (Ill.) News-Democrat]
A group of Glen Carbon residents on Tuesday filed a lawsuit asking that a judge stop a planned expansion of the village’s Wal-Mart into a Supercenter.
Walter and Susan Hammill, Leon and Jane Mace and Marcel Brown filed the lawsuit in Madison County.
The suit names the following as defendants: The village of Glen Carbon, THF Glen Carbon Development LLC and THF Glen Carbon Parcel W Development LLC, and members of the village’s Zoning Board of Appeals: Lee Wathan, Terry Hartley, Paul Hanson, Anne Hutson, Jim Grover, Nicholas Karidis and Susan Hagopian.
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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Wednesday, August 29 | 0 comments | Permalink
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