WAL-MART OK’D IN LANCASTER, NY DESPITE LABOR CONCERNS
Wal-Mart gets OK in Lancaster [Buffalo News (N.Y.)]
Lancaster’s Town Board gave its approval to a Wal-Mart on Monday by the barest of margins — voting, 3-2, in favor of a site plan for the 150,228-square-foot “superstore.”
Voting against the plan were Councilwoman Donna G. Stempniak and Councilman John Abraham, who both said they objected to the Wal-Mart on philosophical grounds.
“I don’t like Wal-Mart. I’m against their labor practices. And I don’t believe we should have a Wal-Mart in Lancaster,” Stempniak told The Buffalo News at the conclusion of Monday’s meeting.
She had shepherded the site plan resolution through the town approval process without letting her feelings about the new store be known publicly until after the Monday’s roll-call vote.
Two weeks ago, Stempniak and others on the Town Board unanimously agreed to pull the measure off the table to include additional protective language for residents who live near the new Wal-Mart. The store is to be built near the northeast corner of William Street and Transit Road behind Applebee’s restaurant at 4967 Transit, across from a Wegmans store.
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Posted by Joel Nezianya on Tuesday, July 22 | 0 comments | Permalink
Ithaca, NY. Wal-Mart Unwanted At Any Size
On June 1, 2001, Sprawl-Busters reported that residents in the city of Ithaca, New York had spent the better part of the past decade fighting off big box developers--and all on the same parcel of scenic floodplain.
First it was Wal-Mart, which tried to locate across from the Buttermilk Falls State Park. That proposal was defeated by the citizens group, Stop Wal-Mart, which prevailed against the company even when Wal-Mart sued through the courts. The developer at the time pulled out amid community opposition focused on issues such as employee wages and impact on local businesses. Buttermilk Park draws an estimated 200,000 visitors each year to watch its cascading waters.
After Wal-Mart’s well-publicized defeat, the battle over Buttermilk was not over. The Widewaters development company of DeWitt, New York submitted a 200,000 s.f. shopping center anchored by a Target store every bit as nasty as the Wal-Mart that went over the falls. Widewaters plans for Buttermilk date back to 1999, when they sought a fill permit to dump 80,000 cubic yards of dirt to prepare the floodplain for something big--but a Target was not specified. With the help of Ithaca’s Mayor at the time, Alan Cohen, city officials bent over backwards to facilitate Widewaters’ application for an even larger project than the Wal-Mart the city rejected in the not so distant past. Mayor Cohen did what it could to avoid the state’s Environmental Quality Review Act, and paved the way for Widewaters to become a Buttermilk neighbor. The article notes that Widewaters contributed money to powerful state lawmakers, and that Hizzoner got rid of city officials who did not agree with this reversal of position on development in the viewshed. A Home Depot was eventually built where the Wal-Mart wanted to go. Eventually, Wal-Mart found another piece of land on Elmira Road, prevailed over citizen’s lawsuits, and built a 149,000 s.f. discount store in Ithaca.
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Posted by Al Norman on Tuesday, July 22 | 0 comments | Permalink
Ellsworth, ME. Small Town Now Flooded With Superstore Chains
Sprawl-Busters reported on June 30, 2000 that Wal-Mart wanted to be the Main retailer in Maine, and had launched a multi-town assault on vacationland. In Ellsworth, Maine, Wal-Mart sent a letter to the Planning Board saying they were looking to locate on a parcel along Route 3 to build a 185,000 s.f. supercenter, which would be just about the size of 4 footballs fields. The land was owned by a city councilor in Ellsworth, and was slated to be a business park. The parcel was accessed through a 2 lane road. The chairman of the Planning Board wanted to know what Wal-Mart would do with its current 94,000 s.f. Wal-Mart store in Ellsworth, also on Route 3.
The Planning Board Chairman at the time, John Fink, told the Bangor Daily News that when he is near the Wal-Mart Supercenter in Augusta, “he tries not to look at it...” Wal-Mart was granted a permit to build a supercenter in Ellsworth in February, 2001, but the store was never built. Their permit had to be exercised within one year. As the deadline approached, no activity at all was seen at the site.
On January 25, 2002, the news broke that Wal-Mart had decided that the mitigating costs required by the Maine Department of Transportation (MDOT) were too great---at almost $4 million---and, having failed in their campaign to get MDOT to reduce this, Wal-Mart decided to withdraw. But six years later, on February 20, 2006, residents of Ellsworth learned that Wal-Mart had not given up its efforts to build a superstore on Route 3.
A Massachusetts-based developer, S.R. Weiner, applied to put a store at the intersection of Route 3 and Myrick Street. Weiner, who has tangled with town governments all over New England, had apparently opened up discussions with Ellsworth City Manager Stephen Gunty. Weiner wanted to put a Wal-Mart near the existing Home Depot. “They’ve been consistently keeping their options open,” Gunty told the newspaper. “We don’t have many specifics. Everything is very preliminary at this point.”
To help Wal-Mart out, city officials considered adopting a new ordinance that would allow site development fees to be levied on all the businesses benefiting from the development, not just the first developer to initiate a project. The Wal-Mart in Ellsworth would have required significant road improvements not necessary without the project. Residents in Ellsworth formed a citizen’s group called “Wise Planning for Ellsworth” (WPE) to take the lead in opposing Weiner’s attempts to put a supercenter in Ellsworth.
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Posted by Al Norman on Monday, July 21 | 0 comments | Permalink
WAL-MART OK’D IN SHNECKSVILLE, PA
Wal-Mart complex on 309 OK’d [The Morning Call (Pa.)]
A plan for a Wal-Mart and four other stores in Schnecksville was approved Wednesday by North Whitehall township supervisors on the condition the developer first check for chemical contamination on the site.
Supervisors voted unanimously affirming that Wal-Mart Stores East, owner of the 40-acre site along Route 309, could use the land for a planned commercial development.
The supervisors also required that Wal-Mart show satisfactory proof that safety hazards, including arsenic, lead, dioxin, pesticide and herbicide contamination on the former orchard land are within safe and acceptable government levels before the township issues a building permit.
Supervisors said the levels must meet state or federal standards, whichever apply.
An elevated level of arsenic was detected in one of several samples at the site of the state’s Old Packhouse Road relocation project. The roadwork is directly adjacent to Wal-Mart’s proposed development site, where decades ago the land was planted with fruit trees and sprayed with chemicals.
Route 309 residents Brendan and Molly Reilly-Cygan, the parents of two young girls, repeated their health concerns to supervisors at the start of meeting Wednesday. Molly Reilly-Cygan asked if it was ethical for Wal-Mart to build on contaminated land. She said people come before money.
Supervisors said they felt it was prudent to attach a condition regarding soil safety.
‘’I feel we have to do something about it,’’ Supervisor Terry Stoudt said.
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Posted by Tony Calero on Friday, July 18 | 0 comments | Permalink
WAL-MART REVIEW POSTPONED IN WYOMING COUNTY, PA
Wyoming County Wal-Mart review postponed [The Times-Tribune (Pa.)]
The Wyoming County Planning Commission agreed on Wednesday to postpone its review of plans for a Wal-Mart SuperCenter until next month.
County planner Paul Weilage said attorney Mark Van Loon requested on behalf of Wal-Mart that the review be postponed.
Wal-Mart wants to build a 155,114-square foot SuperCenter on Route 29, just south of Tunkhannock in Eaton Township.
Mr. Weilage said Mr. Van Loon requested that the review be pushed back, pending a public hearing on Monday and a follow-up decision to it by Eaton Township supervisors on whether to grant a conditional-use permit to Wal-Mart.
On July 10, the township Planning Commission recommended the SuperCenter plan be approved by supervisors.
Supervisors expect to vote on the plan following the hearing on Monday.
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Posted by Joel Nezianya on Thursday, July 17 | 0 comments | Permalink
STRUGGLING TO ACCOMODATE WAL-MART TRAFFIC IN FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP, PA
Franklin Twp. weighs ban on left turns from McCall Bridge [Morning Call (Pa.)]
A revised traffic signal plan tabled by Franklin Township supervisors Tuesday would no longer allow traffic to turn left from the Thomas McCall Bridge onto Canal Street to enter Weissport, officials said.
After a full review, officials said, the township may adopt the idea.
For years, traffic crossing the bridge on Route 209 into Franklin Township from the Lehighton side has been delayed by motorists waiting to make the turn. The traffic signal has no left-turn arrow.
The proposed revision is part of a project that would replace current traffic signals on the bridge and along Mahoning Township’s busy Route 443 commercial corridor with high-tech signals that use high-frequency radio waves to count cars and then adjust the length of the red- and green-light cycles.
The new lights, officials said, seem to be the most feasible way to deal with increases in traffic volume expected from a proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter in Mahoning Township.
Wal-Mart has agreed to help pay for the light upgrades as part of state Department of Transportation regulations that require developers to address traffic impact before a highway occupancy permit can be issued.
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Posted by Joel Nezianya on Thursday, July 17 | 0 comments | Permalink
North Whitehall, PA. Wal-Mart Uses Legal Threat To Intimidate Supervisors
Once again Wal-Mart has used legal intimidation to overcome regulation.
Sprawl-Busters reported on July 15th that supervisors in North Whitehall township, Pennsylvania would take a big vote on a big problem. The next day, July 16th, the supervisors voted in support of a Wal-Mart supercenter--and Wal-Mart’s attorney made a very pointed legal point after their vote. This case dates back to September 25, 2007, when Sprawl-Busters reported that the tiny township of North Whitehall, Pennsylvania--population roughly 2,000--had a big problem tossed in their lap: A Wal-Mart supercenter. North Whitehall already has 7 Wal-Mart stores within 20 miles, including three supercenters, with a supercenter in Whitehall a mere 7 miles away.
In its continuing drive to saturate the area, Wal-Mart proposed a 176,846-s.f. superstore on 32.6 acres in a former orchard at Route 309 and Levans Road. In early October, 2007, the township supervisors, chaired by Ron Stahley, held an afternoon meeting for residents to express their concerns about the massive Wal-Mart project---which would be the largest retail building in the history of this community. Opponents of the project showed up to voice their concerns over the superstore. North Whitehall describes itself as being “Primarily agricultural in nature…a desirable place to live and continues to do so by retaining its unique blend of residential and rural character.”
Residents opposed to Wal-Mart formed a group called North Whitehall for Sustainable Development to protect that rural character. This volunteer organization dedicated itself to promoting responsible development that conserves natural resources and ecological balance, while providing for the needs of residents in and around North Whitehall. The organization has been working to prevent the construction of this big box store adjacent to the Schnecksville Fire Company. Residents’ opposition to the project is based on traffic safety; air, water, noise and light pollution; and loss of open space. The Planning Commission began reviewing the plans in September of 2007---ten months ago. During the review period, Wal-Mart asked for delays, so that it could ‘refine’ its proposal. The final hearing on the proposal took place in early July, and focused on the key issue during this phase of the review: traffic. The group NWSD hired a transportation planner to testify about the impacts this huge superstore would have on Route 309. The planner, Douglas Plank from the ELA Group of Lititz, Pennsylvania, told the township supervisors that the Wal-Mart would increase traffic congestion and create hazardous conditions on Route 309.
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Posted by Al Norman on Thursday, July 17 | 0 comments | Permalink
BELFAST, ME ‘AGRESSIVELY PURSUING’ WAL-MART
Slocum sets out for Wal-Mart or bust [Village Soup (Maine)]
The Belfast City Council gave City Manager Joe Slocum the green light Tuesday, July 15, to aggressively pursue bringing a Wal-Mart “supercenter” to Belfast.
AdvertisementThe directive is the latest step in a courtship that started in July 2007, when the council reached a compromise to allow a single big-box store on Route 3, amending the zoning ordinance to designate a single property for that purpose.
Visions of a west side Wal-Mart were sidelined earlier this year, when residents and councilors clashed over efforts to bring a Lowe’s store to the east side. The standoff ended with the elimination of the Searsport Avenue Special Commercial District — the only other commercial real estate in the city zoned for a retailer the size of Wal-Mart.
Slocum spoke with an official in Lincoln, where the local Wal-Mart was poised to expand, adding a grocery store to the existing general merchandise outlet. According to the official, Wal-Mart notified the town that it was halting all expansion in Maine for an indefinite period while the company reconsidered all future expansions, everywhere. The company never broke ground on a store planned for Hillsboro, N.H., on land purchased by Wal-Mart.
Beyond the temporary moratorium on expansion, Slocum speculated that Wal-Mart might find Belfast to be too close to existing Wal-Mart stores in Bangor, Rockland and Augusta.
In his manager’s report of July 15, Slocum detailed Wal-Mart’s recent moves to the council “for the sole purpose of making sure everyone has a realistic expectation about our likelihood of success.”
Local resistance to having a Wal-Mart in Belfast has drawn heavily on the idea that Wal-Mart stores spring up in towns that can’t muster the civic discipline to oppose them. But that characterization may be outdated.
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Posted by Tony Calero on Wednesday, July 16 | 0 comments | Permalink
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