Oceanside, CA. Wal-Mart Brings “Small Wars” to California
This week Sprawl-Busters received the following alert from a resident in Escondido, California: “Wal-Mart is at it again, this time in Escondido. Wal-Mart is contacting the Escondido Planning Commission to construct a smaller Wal-Mart neighborhood store. Wal-Mart has tried to enter the San Diego Metro lately and was turned down by the San Diego City Council.” The San Diego Union-Tribune reports this week that Wal-Mart is planning to test out its new “smaller” format Marketside store in Oceanside, California in San Diego County. A developer has quietly listed Wal-Mart as the grocery store tenant for 11,000 s.f. of leased space downtown at 848 J St., according to tenant improvement plans filed with the Centre City Development Corp. The Gatlin Development Co., based in San Diego, has applied to Oceanside’s Planning Commission to build a small shopping center that will contain a 12,650-s.f. grocery store. The company has also filed with the state for a liquor license for the store. The only announced Marketside pilot stores have been in Arizona, and Wal-Mart would not confirm the Oceanside project. “This (Arizona) is all we have shared on the new format to date,” a Wal-Mart spokeswoman told the Union Tribune.
“It’s a pilot right now, and we’re concentrating on Phoenix,” Wal-Mart told the North County Times. “At this point we haven’t really said whether we’re looking at doing this anywhere else.” But the Oceanside store proves otherwise. One report has suggested that Wal-Mart eventually hopes to build the Marketside concept to as many as 1,500 locations---places where the superstore concept won’t fit. Wal-Mart’s smaller stores are in response to the British invasion of Fresh & Easy grocery stores being developed by Tesco—a British rival to Wal-Mart’s ASDA in the United Kingdom.
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Posted by Al Norman on Tuesday, September 16 | 0 comments | Permalink
East Dundee, IL. Neighbors Take West Dundee To Court Over Wal-Mart
Once again, Wal-Mart’s inability to work with neighbors has led to a courtroom. On June 10, 2008, Sprawl-Busters reported that the village of East Dundee, Illinois was in an uproar because a real estate listing showed that the Wal-Mart discount store # 1531 in the village was being advertised as available for lease or sale by the winter of 2007, and that a larger superstore was going to be built in neighboring West Dundee.
East Dundee Village President Jerald Bartels met with local Wal-Mart officials, who seemed as surprised as he was. “We have no official word from Wal-Mart that anything is happening at this point,” officials said at the time. But Wal-Mart officials eventually told the village it was shutting down its store in East Dundee to move to West Dundee. The store in West Dundee will be less than 2 miles from the existing store in East Dundee. One local official described Wal-Mart’s move from East Dundee as a “body blow” to village finances. The East Dundee store generates about $600,000 a year in sales tax revenues for the village-—a gross number, before subtracting out the substantial municipal expenses, such as police, fire and road maintenance. East Dundee Village President Dan O’Leary said his community would lose 15% of its service-related funds when Wal-Mart shuts down. “I am guessing we could see a $600,000 cut from our $4 million operating budget,” O’Leary said. “That could mean a reduction in services like police and public works, and then we just run out of places to cut back.”
West Dundee officials seemed to have little qualms about stealing revenues from their neighbor. West Dundee’s Village Manager admitted that Wal-Mart was negotiating with General Growth Properties Inc., the owner of Spring Hill Mall, for a mall out lot that was commercially zoned. To make matters worse, it appears that East Dundee will make the transfer of location possible through a deal between the two villages in which the East provides sewer services for the West. So the West will be able to offer sewer to the new 186,000 s.f. Wal-Mart stolen from East Dundee, by using East Dundee’s sewer system.
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Posted by Al Norman on Monday, September 15 | 0 comments | Permalink
Duluth, GA. Two Lawsuits Dropped, Wal-Mart Officially Dead
A landowner in Duluth, Georgia appears to have finally pulled the legal plug on his dreams for a Wal-Mart supercenter. On May 3, 2008, Sprawl-Busters updated a story from Duluth, where a bitter battle over a Wal-Mart superstore was finally drawing to an end. Wal-Mart abruptly pulled out of the race, after more than a year of wrangling with local residents. On July 1, 2007, Duluth residents sent Sprawl-Busters the following email: “Wal-Mart has proposed a super store in Duluth, Georgia.
The proposed site is zoned general commercial (C-2) meaning a retail store is an allowed use within this zoning district. Wal-Mart’s engineering company has applied for several variances and the zoning board of appeals meets on 27 June, 2007 to address these variances. We understand the zoning board of appeals does not have the authority to approve or disapprove Wal-Mart locating here---just on the variances. Development plans have not been submitted, according to the Director of the City Planning and Development Department. We are one of about 10 subdivisions in the immediate area of the possible development.”
At the end of July, 2007, the city passed a six month moratorium on retail stores larger than 75,000 s.f. The moratorium affected at least three projects in Duluth, including the Wal-Mart proposal. On January 24, 2008, Jack Bandy, who owns the parcel Wal-Mart wants, had his friend, the former Governor of Georgia, Roy Barnes, file a lawsuit in Gwinnett Superior Court, trying to invalidate the moratorium. Bandy also took his case to the Duluth Zoning Board of Appeals, trying to get that board to overrule the decision of the city’s Planning Director. Wal-Mart applied for a building permit in August for a 176,000 s.f. store, but was turned down by the city’s Planning Director. She cited Duluth’s six-month moratorium on large-scale buildings. The landowner appealed. But the Duluth ZBA backed its Planning Director, and voted unanimously to deny Wal-Mart’s appeal. “I’m not surprised; I’m disappointed,” a Wal-Mart spokesman told the Atlanta Journal Constitution at the time. After the ZBA vote, the City Attorney announced that the zoning board also was being sued by Bandy, who had two legal actions pending against the city. Bandy’s new suit was filed against the Zoning Board of Appeals and each of its members; the city’s new director of planning; and the city of Duluth. It appealed the rulings the zoning board made in October, 2007, when the ZBA agreed with local residents that the city’s Planning Director had exceeded her legal authority when she approved redesigns to Wal-Mart’s planned Supercenter.
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Posted by Al Norman on Friday, September 12 | 0 comments | Permalink
Iowa City, IA. City Officials Have One More Vote To Approve Wal-Mart
It’s the third vote that finally counts. City officials in Iowa City, Iowa have one chance left to deny a wasteful Wal-Mart proposal that will kill an existing discount store, just to build a bigger one.
On June 21, 2008, Sprawl-Busters reported that local residents in Iowa City, Iowa were being saturated with flood waters, and saturated with big box stores. Iowa City already has a 110,000 s.f. Wal-Mart discount store on Highway 1 West. The city also has a 122,000 s.f. Target at the Coral Ridge Mall, and a 128,000 s.f. Dillards. They have a 97,000 s.f. Kmart as well. There’s also a Wal-Mart supercenter less than 5 miles away in Coralville, Iowa.
There are three Wal-Mart supercenters within 25 miles of Iowa City---so the city’s 63,000 population has easy access to cheap Chinese imports within a short drive. Wal-Mart’s plan is tear down its current store, Staples and an abandoned Cub Foods to build the new supercenter. The Cub store was closed because of competition from Wal-Mart. The Iowa City Planning and Zoning Commission in late June delayed for a second time the processing of a Wal-Mart supercenter proposal. According to the Iowa City Press-Citizen, a number of Commissioners just don’t like the looks of the proposed 189,000 s.f. Wal-Mart. “It seems like you didn’t look at the code when you planned this—the big-box standards,” the commission’s chairwoman told the retailer. “We’re not even close to meeting the minimum on these things.”
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Posted by Al Norman on Friday, September 12 | 0 comments | Permalink
Salt Lake City, UT. Planning Commission Recommends No Rezoning For Wal-Mart
How sweet it is. The residents of the Sugar House community in Salt Lake City are savoring the victory today over Wal-Mart---but the deal isn’t over yet. Last night, a crowd of Wal-Mart opponents, estimated at nearly 100, broke into applause when the city’s Planning Commission voted down a Wal-Mart superstore. “We’re psyched,” said Jill Burke, with Foothill Development Watch. “That shows you the role community councils play.”
On July 29, 2008, Sprawl-Busters reported that Wal-Mart wanted to build a 122,320 s.f. supercenter in the heart of Sugar House, but first it must tear down an empty 113,000 s.f. Kmart it bought several years ago. The city’s zoning ordinance says the existing building can be remodeled—but not torn down. Wal-Mart asked for a rezoning of the property---and tried to sweeten the deal by offering a landscaping package, “green” features on the building, new sidewalks and other site amenities. But an advisory group to the council, known as the Sugar House Community Council, opposed the rezoning, claiming that a previous owner of the parcel on E. Parleys Way agreed to the current zoning rules in exchange for zoning flexibility on another piece of property. “I don’t care what the business is, whether it’s Wal-Mart or Kmart or Target or any other business. The thing I’m concerned about is that it stays with the current zoning, with the current types of businesses” in the area, a Sugar House Community Council spokesman said. Kmart, which has been at this location for 40 years, is shutting down.
Wal-Mart bought the property in 2005, but less than a year later, the city voted to prohibit superstores in the ‘community business’ zone. The developer, CLC Associates, must seek the approval of the city’s Planning Commission and City Council. Sugar House residents said current zoning was designed to keep businesses small and neighborhood-serving.
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Posted by Al Norman on Thursday, September 11 | 0 comments | Permalink
Niceville, FL. Plans Going Really Nicely For Wal-Mart Supercenter
Once there was a city called Niceville. Niceville, Florida. In 2007, there were 12,370 nice people living in Niceville. When a developer came along and proposed building a nice Wal-Mart supercenter, everything went nice and easy.
Niceville didn’t really need a Wal-Mart supercenter, because there was a nice one only 9 miles away in Destin, Florida, and another one 11 miles away in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. But a company called Valparaiso Realty thought it would be nice to make lots of money by putting up a supercenter in Niceville, and according to the Northwest Florida Daily News, after several years of delay, it looks like the supercenter is “making serious progress.” The new store would be located on the east side of the city on a 45 acre site, with a nice Home Depot proposed as its neighbor. The two stores would be separated by about 400 feet of wetlands.
This week, Niceville’s City Council voted unanimously to give Wal-Mart a special deal on the property. Wal-Mart will be able to have only 4.5 parking spaces per 1,000 s.f. of store, compared to the normal Niceville ratio of 5 spaces per 1,000 s.f. The city manager said that will allow Wal-Mart to build wider sidewalks, which is nice. The overall plan was also unanimously approved. “Basically we’re very pleased with the unanimous decision,” a spokeswoman for the developer told the newspaper. “We’re still in the process of finalizing the site plan.”
Now all Wal-Mart has to do is pay a visit to the Niceville Buildling Inspector to pick up their building permit. The City Manager did admit that the traffic on John Sims Parkway might not be so nice after these two big box stores, and the outparcels are developed. But Niceville has the traffic problem figured out. There’s going to be a wide service road running parallel to John Sims Parkway, plus a sidewalk and a bike path, part of a 100 foot wide easement between the Parkway and the service road. “That will take a lot of pressure off the traffic situation,” said the City Manager. Which would be really nice.
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Posted by Al Norman on Thursday, September 11 | 0 comments | Permalink
Clearbrook, VA. Wal-Mart Project Rises From the Dead
A Wal-Mart proposal in Virginia has risen like a vampire from the dead to terrorize an entire neighborhood. On February 3, 2007, Sprawl-Busters reported that a Tennessee developer was trying to build 204,000 s.f. Wal-Mart superstore across from the Clearbrook, Virginia Elementary School. But a group called Citizens for Smart Growth challenged HolRob Investments, the developer, and the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors.
HolRob tried to have the citizen’s lawsuit dismissed, but the developer’s motion was denied by the court, and the project went to a Circuit Court judge. The CSG group charged that the project’s review process was collapsed into just six weeks, ending in a 4-1 vote by the County Board in October, 2006. The citizen’s group wanted the case remanded back to the County’s Planning Commission, with a full traffic study to be done this time. The group retained Richmond, Virginia attorney Phillip Strother, who also served as the victorious lead counsel for citizens in Front Royal, Virginia before the Virginia Supreme Court.
The residents pointed out that the land Wal-Mart wanted was intended for a “village concept” in the county’s Overlay District guidelines. The Clearbrook Overlay District Concept calls for small commercial and retail development similar in feeling to a village street-—the antithesis of a Wal-Mart supercenter.
“The first time the overlay is questioned the county rolls [over],” one CSG member complained. “Some folks have said we’re doing away with the overlay,” the County’s Administrator said “But they’re complying with the overlay” by seeking the special-use permit it allows,” he added. “All of us hoped for more of a type of development” in style and size--- things like doctor’s offices, sit-down restaurants and small office buildings.
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Posted by Al Norman on Wednesday, September 10 | 0 comments | Permalink
Berlin, MD. Get Away From Strip Malls & Visit Wal-Mart By the Sea
Wal-Mart discount store #2560 sits along Ocean Gateway road in Berlin, Maryland. According to local officials, the store is “over-shopped.” If that’s true, it’s not from people in Berlin, because the community has less than 4,000 people living there, an increase from 1990, when the population was 2,616. The nearby community of Ocean City, Maryland has roughly 7,000 people—so the two communities combined couldn’t “overshop” any store. If they did, the competitors would have no business at all.
The entire county of Worcester in Maryland has just about enough people to support a superstore: 49,500. Worcester County pitches itself to tourists—not to big box shoppers. Located on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, Worcester County is Maryland’s only seaside county, “known for Ocean City’s clean sandy beaches, outdoor recreation, steamed crabs and the famous wild pony herd on Assateague Island State Park and National Seashore.” Worcester County also claims to have the best birding in the state, “and 100 miles of marked bicycle trails on flat country roads.” And if no citizen opposition creates waves---Worcester County will soon be able to claim the 14th supercenter in Maryland.
But it turns out that Worcester County, which is now considering plans for a long-delayed Wal-Mart supercenter, is talking out of both sides of its mouth. In one tourist promotion, the tiny town of Berlin is described to visitors as “the exquisite, Victorian-era town of Berlin with its romantic bed and breakfasts. Or visit historic Snow Hill and Pocomoke City, with their 100-plus century-old homes and proximity to the beautiful Pocomoke River.
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Posted by Al Norman on Tuesday, September 09 | 0 comments | Permalink
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