Raynham, MA. Counsel Acted Appropriately, Testimony Says
Wal-Mart: Permits binding [Taunton Gazette]
On Thursday, the head of the Raynham Planning Board, Daniel J. Andrade, took the stand in the trial between Wal-Mart and the owner of a local supermarket, testifying that the board acted properly in approving plans for the retail giant’s second location in Raynham.
Andrade was a member of the planning board in 2005 when the board unanimously approved plans for the Wal-Mart supercenter on Route 138. At the trial held in Fall River Superior Court, Andrade testified at the request of the attorneys representing Wal-Mart in order to verify the course of events that led to the approval of the retail supercenter.
“We review the entire process individually, but as one,” he said during the questioning. “We have to understand what the process is all about before we can say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to a special permit.”
Part of the process included reviewing a proposal for a residential subdivision that was filed by Wal-Mart in order to prevent a zoning change put forth by Raynham residents attempting to block any plans for the retailer.At a town meeting in 2004, residents voted to reclassify zoning for the 26-acre lot Wal-Mart purchased from William Murby, the owner of the Par 3 golf course, earlier in the year. But by filing the sub-division proposal prior to the town meeting, Wal-Mart froze the commercial zoning designation while allowing plans for a 208,000 square-foot supercenter to move forward.
Andrade recounted several public hearings that were held at the Senior Center in 2005, noting appearances by local leaders such as Taunton Mayor Robert G. Nunes and state Sen. Marc Pacheco, D-Taunton.
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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Friday, January 25 | 0 comments | Permalink
North Cornwall, PA. Tires of Wal-Mart Wars
North Cornwall opts out of Wal-Mart wars [The Patriot-News (Penn.)]
Legal battles between Wal-Mart and a group of Lebanon County residents will continue, but two new legal appeals will go on without the involvement of North Cornwall Twp., where the retail giant has proposed to build a super center.
Plans by Wal-Mart to build a super center on Cornwall Road have been contentious since they were filed at the end of 2004. Area residents, some of whom live near the site, have fought a delaying action against the store without coming up with a ruling that would kill the project.
In the latest actions residents have appealed to Commonwealth Court a ruling by Lebanon County Judge John Tylwalk that upheld a conditional use permit granted Wal-Mart by township supervisors in late 2005.
The group also filed an appeal with Lebanon County courts of a December decision by supervisors to approve a preliminary plan submitted by Wal-Mart.
North Cornwall Twp. solicitor Josele Cleary told supervisors there was no reason not to let Wal-Mart and the citizens group fight it out by themselves in both cases. “There is no reason to spend taxpayer money on this,” she said.
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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Thursday, January 24 | 0 comments | Permalink
Raynham, MA. Legal Battle Over Proposed Site Continues
Judge, attorneys visit proposed Wal-Mart site [The Enterprise (Mass.)]
A site visit is typically performed by a jury during a criminal trial, but no crime had been committed at the Par 3 Golf Course to prompt a site visit by the judge and attorneys in the appeal trial over the proposed Wal-Mart supercenter on Wednesday.
Shortly after 9 a.m., Judge Robert Cosgrove, along with attorneys representing the retail giant and Demoulas Super Markets, toured the grounds of the shuttered 26-acre golf course and the abutting Market Basket Plaza. Cosgrove appeared interested in the 100-yard stretch of road separating the current entrance to the Market Basket Plaza and the proposed entrance to the Wal-Mart.
The block of Route 138, also called Broadway, has been under legal scrutiny since the town’s Planning Board approved the 208,000-square-foot store in May of 2005.
Demoulas, owner of a Market Basket grocery store, has already been denied an initial appeal of the Wal-Mart store, but is appealing a second time based on anticipated traffic congestion caused by three traffic lights and about 10,000 vehicles that are expected to visit the store each day.
As the appeal states: “The effect of the traffic delay is ‘grid-lock’ in front of the Market Basket site, particularly during the evening peak hours.”
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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Thursday, January 24 | 0 comments | Permalink
Battle-Mart Site Fight E Action of the Week - Take Action to Battle Wal-Mart!
Every year, hundreds of Wal-Mart store development plans are thwarted by local community groups and activists. Battle–Mart brings news and updates of these fights, some of communities trying to stop a new Wal-Mart from being built, others of local groups uniting to prevent an existing Wal-Mart from expanding.
Each week, Battle-Mart will highlight local fights that need immediate action. The action may be a phone call to remind a Mayor in New England of the devastating effects Wal-Mart can have on a community, or an email to ask a board of commissioners in the Southwest to hear local residents’ reasons for wanting to stop sprawl. Check back each week to take action. Now it is your turn to take action to bust sprawl!
Ventura, CA
Citizens in Ventura, California have waited for months for their elected officials to clamp down on a Wal-Mart superstore development but now they are planning to go right to the voters to get what they want.
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Posted by Anna Gustina on Wednesday, January 23 | 13 comments | Permalink
Colonie, NY. Wal-Mart Back For A Second Try, Dumps Major Mall Owner
Wal-Mart struck out once with a supercenter project in the town of Colonie, New York (pop. 80,000). Now the company wants to shut down an existing store in the area, leave one of the largest mall developers in the nation with a hole in its mall, and open a bigger Wal-Mart two miles away. No wonder residents in Colonie are scratching their heads. In June of 2006, Sprawl-Busters reported that developer Widewaters Group, of DeWitt, New York, had gotten into water over its head in a number of land schemes. The company lost supercenter battles in Saratoga Springs and Ballston, New York, in Bangor, Maine. Widewaters also ran into rough seas in Ithaca and Greece, New York. The Albany Times Union reported a year and a half ago that Widewaters had walked away from the so-called “First Prize Center” project because the town wasn’t supportive enough. After spending nearly a year trying in vain to gather neighborhood support, Widwaters pulled the plug. Widewaters would have had to spend a large sum to tear down the former Tobin meat-packing plant. But when the developer met with Colonie officials, the project went aground. “We met with the leadership ... and they told us they couldn’t support it in any way,” said a development manager at Widewaters. “There was not much point in going forward.” The Town’s Supervisor said the site was not appropriate for a big-box store and that the town would prefer a mix of retail and residential uses. “The amount of traffic I feel it would generate is not something we’d like to see in that area,” she said. “It’s still a residential neighborhood.” Widewaters said it was shocked that the town would not support a Wal-Mart supercenter. “It wasn’t meant to be under the current political leadership,” the developer’s spokesman added. “We weren’t willing to swim upstream on this one.” That was quite an analogy for a developer called Widewaters. But Wal-Mart played the waiting game in Colonie, and the Times-Union reported this week that the giant retailer was back to build a store off of Route 9. There are 8 Wal-Marts today within 10 miles of Colonie, including 4 supercenters in Glenville, Halfmoon, East Greenbush, and Glenmont. There’s a Wal-Mart discount store in Albany two miles away, and a discount store in Latham four miles away. The Colonie supercenter will allow Wal-Mart to shut down its Latham store.
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Posted by Al Norman on Tuesday, January 22 | 0 comments | Permalink
Lockport, NY. Citizens’ Group Files Second Suit
Wal-Mart supercenter foes file second lawsuit [Buffalo News (N.Y.)]
Foes of the Wal- Mart supercenter project here have followed up on last month’s lawsuit against the Planning Board with a second suit, this time against the Zoning Board of Appeals.
The suit, filed Friday in State Supreme Court, alleges that the Zoning Board violated state law and the town’s zoning code on Dec. 13 when it granted 12 variances to the Wal- Mart project.
The earlier suit made similar charges against the Planning Board, which in November waived numerous provisions of the town’s laws governing the commercial corridor along South Transit Road to clear the way for the project.
The Planning Board suit is due for a first airing Feb. 14 before Justice Richard C. Kloch Sr.; no court date has been set for the new case.
The plaintiffs in the latest lawsuit are Lockport Smart Growth, a group of residents near the Lockport Mall, where the supercenter is to be built; the group’s secretary, Joan A. Grigg; and James Emmert, another neighborhood resident.
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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Wednesday, January 16 | 0 comments | Permalink
Raynham, MA. Regional Grocery Chain Sues Wal-Mart Over Supercenter
On May 25, 2005, Sprawl-Busters reported that the city of Taunton, Massachusetts had taken its next door neighbor, the city of Raynham, to court, over the latter’s decision to approve a Wal-Mart supercenter. The Taunton City Council voted unanimously to appeal the decision of the Raynham planning and zoning boards approving a 209,000 s.f. Wal-Mart supercenter. The Taunton council voted to spend whatever funds were necessary to pursue the case. Taunton Mayor Robert Nunes was very clear about his feelings over the Wal-Mart controversy. “I support the council’s decision. The construction of Wal-Mart on Route 138 will be devastating to Taunton. Taunton will get all the traffic while Raynham gets all the fees and tax revenues. The city is appealing on the grounds that “the impacts on Taunton were not adequately considered and the mitigation is inadequate to address the particular harms to Taunton’s interests.” One Taunton Councilor told the Enterprise newspaper, “We have to protect the city of Taunton and the residents of that section of the city. The traffic is going to be unbelievable. Hopefully, Wal-Mart will listen to our concerns.” Taunton officials asked Wal-Mart to make traffic light, intersection and road improvements that could cost $1.7 million---but Wal-Mart had refused at first. The Mayor said the Wal-Mart, which is only half a mile from the Taunton border, would hike traffic on the affected city roads by 68%. Officials estimate 10,000 new cars a day will worsen the level of service on an already dangerous and congested stretch of road. A citizen’s group, Raynham First, which has been fighting the project since the beginning, told reporters that it was also considering an appeal. Roll the clock forward more than two and a half years later---and this project is still in limbo. The city of Taunton is no longer involved, but a new champion has stepped forward to challenge Wal-Mart--a family-owned grocery chain. Raynham, a town of 13,665 people, already has a Wal-Mart supercenter on Paramount Drive. The retailer should have learned the first time that Raynham has mixed feelings about supercenters. The first Wal-Mart supercenter here was bitterly fought also, and after court appeals, took more than three years to approve. That first supercenter is only ten minutes from the project now making headlines. The Bristol Superior Court in Fall River will hear an appeal next week---not by the city of Taunton---but by a competitor to Wal-Mart.
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Posted by Al Norman on Tuesday, January 15 | 0 comments | Permalink
Lebanon, PA. Rezoning Requested
Rezoning requested for Wal-Mart site [Patriot News (Penn.)]
An attorney for a group opposed to development along Cornwall Road has opened a new front in the war against what some call “big box stores.”
It’s a battle that has been ongoing since Wal-Mart first filed plans in late 2004 to build a 230,000-square- foot supercenter along the road. Since then, other developers have announced plans to build retail stores in the area.
Attorney Dwight Yoder filed a request with the North Cornwall Twp. supervisors last week to change the zoning of about 90 acres along the road from commercial to office and institutional.
While the area to be re-zoned includes properties owned by several of Yoder’s clients, most of it is owned or controlled by Wal-Mart or Springwood Development Partners, which has announced plans to build several retail stores, including a Target and Giant Food Store.
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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Monday, January 14 | 0 comments | Permalink
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