Weekly Update for Elected Officials: Oct. 10, 2008
Check out this week’s issue of the Wal-Mart Watch Weekly Update for Elected Officials – a compilation of Wal-Mart news from across the country and beyond.
This week’s issue focuses on Wal-Mart and the current economic crisis. You’ll find stories on how Americans are shifting to thrift stores in order to save money, and whether September’s retail sales figures reflect a downturn in consumer spending. You’ll also find an article from CNN Money discussing whether the state of the economy will affect Wal-Mart’s hiring, especially with the holiday season coming up.
In addition to the economy, you’ll find stories on Wal-Mart’s move to small stores. Are Wal-Mart’s Marketside Stores the wave of the future? And in health care news, Wal-Mart is rolling out electronic personal health records to all of its employees, and has announced changes to its health plan for 2009.
And finally, check out our “Stateside” and “Wal-Mart International” sections to find out what’s going on with Wal-Mart around the country and across the globe.
Wal-Mart Watch Weekly Update for Elected Officials [October 10, 2008]
Posted by Corey Himrod on Friday, October 10 | 0 comments | Permalink
NEW YORK SITE FIGHT: SUFFOLK COUNTY SUPREME COURT DENIES WAL-MART
Wal-Mart Riverhead opening barred [Newsday (N.Y.)]
A Suffolk County Supreme Court judge has overturned the Riverhead Town Board’s approval of plans to construct a 169,547-square-foot Wal-Mart supercenter with a car repair shop and a food center near the Tanger Outlets on Route 58.
Judge Thomas F. Whelan ruled that Wal-Mart’s site plan violated the town’s zoning codes for that area and the town’s comprehensive plan. Whelan also concluded in his decision, issued Monday, that the town board did not have the authority to grant Wal-Mart variances of zoning restrictions.
The supercenter, which the retailer has in other states and which also includes a supermarket and garden center, would have been Long Island’s first.
“The Town Board, in its role as site plan administrator, cannot approve site plan applications that run counter to the Town Law, its Comprehensive Plan, and its own zoning code,” Whelan wrote. “One of the most cherished principles of our democracy is the respect and deference accorded our governing laws by our citizenry. Town Boards are not exempt from that fundamental ideal.”
Also see: Riverhead, NY. Court Nixes Town Approval of Wal-Mart [Battle-Mart Blog]
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Posted by Luke West on Friday, October 10 | 0 comments | Permalink
Riverhead, NY. Court Nixes Town Approval of Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart suffered another legal setback this week on Long Island. Newsday reports that the town of Riverhead, New York---which already has a Wal-Mart discount store on Old Country Road---has had its approval of a Wal-Mart supercenter overturned. The giant retailer wanted to build a 169,548 sf. store on Route 58, which would have been the first supercenter on crowded Long Island. Despite approval by the Riverhead Town Board, local residents refused to take ‘yes’ for an answer, and threw the case into court. On October 6th, Judge Thomas F. Whelan of the Suffolk County Supreme Court tossed out the Town Board’s approval. The judge ruled that Wal-Mart’s site plan violated the town’s zoning code, and the town’s comprehensive plan. According to the court, the Town Board did not have the discretion to give Wal-Mart variances from the zoning restrictions.
“The Town Board, in its role as site plan administrator, cannot approve site plan applications that run counter to the Town Law, its Comprehensive Plan, and its own zoning code,” Judge Whelan wrote. “One of the most cherished principles of our democracy is the respect and deference accorded our governing laws by our citizenry. Town Boards are not exempt from that fundamental ideal.” Two lawsuits had been filed against Riverhead and Wal-Mart in the wake of town approval in June of 2007. The owner of a shopping center on Route 58 and Riverhead residents filed the lawsuits. The plaintiffs were pleased with the outcome of their court battle. “It’s a rational, sound, well-written decision,” said James Gaughran, the attorney who filed the appeal on behalf of Riverhead residents. “I think it will be difficult for them to overturn on appeal.”
Wal-Mart issued its standard disclaimer in such cases, noting that the real losers in this battle were Wal-Mart customers. “We are obviously disappointed in the decision,” Wal-Mart told the media. “Our customers in the area were very much looking forward to shopping in the upgraded Wal-Mart store that was planned for Riverhead. In addition, the project would have created about 100 construction jobs during that phase of the project, as well as about 100 additional permanent jobs at the store, when construction was complete.”
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Posted by Al Norman on Friday, October 10 | 0 comments | Permalink
NEW YORK SITE FIGHT: WAL-MART TRAFFIC ISSUES NEED TO BE ADDRESSED
Our View: Walmart traffic issue needs clarification [Tonawanda News (N.Y.)]
There remains an outstanding issue surrounding the traffic study for the proposed Walmart Supercenter in North Tonawanda, though at this point we can’t figure out why.
After extensive interviews with both Frank Budwey and the city’s engineering consultant for the project, Drew Reilly, two very different stories are told.
Budwey and his independent paid traffic consultant, Andrew Wolfe, contend that they have not received some important traffic “output” files that offer insight as to the nuts and bolts of the traffic patterns surrounding the proposed Walmart site.
Reilly — a veteran planner who has worked on behalf of numerous communities where Walmart has sought to build or expand — says NT First has received every ream of traffic documentation on file. Furthermore, Reilly tells our editorial board that the city has instructed him to turn over any document pertaining to the Walmart project to any member of the public seeking a copy.
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Posted by Luke West on Wednesday, October 08 | 0 comments | Permalink
NEW YORK SITE FIGHT: EXPERTS WEIGH IN IN TONAWANDA
NORTH TONAWANDA: NT First wants expert testimony [Tonawanda News (N.Y.)]
The sale of Bluebird Drive to Wal-Mart, a key step in getting the project underway, has been discussed by officials and Wal-Mart as they await a lawsuit from Frank Budwey and NT First.
Instead, Budwey late last month submitted a 180-signature petition to the North Tonawanda Common Council asking them to hear comments by their own traffic expert, Andrew Wolfe, Ph.D, also a professor at SUNY Utica, prior to any sale of the access road.
Wolfe addressed the Planning Commission March 11 with a 14-page report. Then, NT First requested more information as the plans had undergone several key changes.
“After the March 11th meeting they gave us information but they didn’t give us the whole package,” Budwey said.
A Freedom of Information request filed a couple of months after the presentation sought data used to establish traffic impact after planners added an entrance to the store’s proposed site on Wurlitzer Drive.
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Posted by Luke West on Tuesday, October 07 | 0 comments | Permalink
NEW YORK SITE FIGHT: WAL-MART OPPONENTS FACE NOVEMBER DEADLINE
WALMART: Smart Growth faces November deadline [Lockport Union-Sun & Journal (N.Y.)]
Smart Growth of Lockport has until mid-November to state the specifics of its appeal to stop construction of a Super Walmart on the site of the vacant Lockport Mall.
The state Court of Appeals heard a request by Walmart late last month to either dismiss Smart Growth’s case for its lack of stating specific grounds of its appeal, or to set a deadline date for the filing, according to Town of Lockport Attorney Daniel E. Seaman.
The court set Nov. 21 as the date by which Smart Growth must file its appeal particulars, Smart Growth attorney Daniel Spitzer said Monday.
When notice of appeal is filed, the plaintiff has up to nine months to state its case, Spitzer has said. Smart Growth filed notice of its intent in early June, meaning it could have had until early March 2009 to put its particular grievances in writing. The court’s ruling on Walmart’s request thus speeds up the timetable.
Preparing the appeal isn’t the arduous part, Spitzer said; it’s compiling the record of municipal proceedings that cleared the way for Walmart to build on the mall site. Smart Growth will make the deadline, he added.
Also see: Deadline set in appeal by Wal-Mart foes [Buffalo News (N.Y.)]
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Posted by Luke West on Tuesday, October 07 | 0 comments | Permalink
NEW HAMPSHIRE SITE FIGHT: HOOKSETT STORE GOING ‘GREEN’
New Hooksett Wal-Mart planning to go ‘green’ [Union-Leader (N.H.)]
HOOKSETT – The new Wal-Mart, slated to open next summer, announced plans this week to design an on-site treatment plant to process in-store wastewater.
Attorney Amy Manzelli of Concord-based firm Sulloway and Hollis attended a Hooksett Conservation Commission meeting Wednesday and briefed members on ways Wal-Mart intends to make the store a little more environmentally responsible.
By decreasing the size of the building from 224,000 to 162,000 square feet—a plan laid out last spring—and by processing wastewater on site, Wal-Mart says it wants to help reduce the impact on surrounding wetlands, Manzelli said.
“Wal-Mart is making an effort to green its stores,” Manzelli said. “That’s what we’re trying to do with this project.” The store is currently under construction on the corner of Bemus Road and Route 3A.
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Posted by Luke West on Friday, October 03 | 0 comments | Permalink
St.Albans, VT. Vermont Governor To Appear At Pro-Wal-Mart Rally
It’s payback time in Vermont. Wal-Mart has donated to Vermont Governor Jim Douglas’ re-election campaign, and now the Governor is returning the favor by speaking at the company’s rally in the town of St. Albans on October 4th. The rally is designed to show support for Wal-Mart’s controversial supercenter project in St. Albans, which has been headline news for 15 years.
On April 22, 2008, Sprawl-Busters reported that Wal-Mart has been rejected once in St. Albans by the state. The company is now in the thick of its second attempt to push its way onto a cornfield across from the St. Albans Drive-In, just off Route 89, a few miles south of the Canadian border. Wal-Mart lost its first attempt in 1995 in a case that went all the way to the Vermont Supreme Court. In this second try, local officials in the town have again given the store its blessing, as well as the regional commission set up under Vermont’s Act 250 land use control law.
The city of St. Albans which abuts the town, has opposed the project because of the damage the superstore will do to the downtown. A neighboring developer that has a Price Chopper grocery store as a tenant is also fighting the Wal-Mart. The Vermont Natural Resources Council (VNRC) and local residents have filed the legal paperwork needed for a “Motion to Alter” to ask the District 6 Commission to reverse its position and rescind the granting of an Act 250 permit that would allow the Wal-Mart superstore. In addition to the VNRC, the citizen’s group the Northwest Citizens for Responsible Growth (NWCRG) and farmers Marie Frey and Richard Hudak, appealed.
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Posted by Al Norman on Friday, October 03 | 0 comments | Permalink
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