Gresham, OR. Wal-Mart Loses---Again

Citizens are celebrating--again--in Gresham, Oregon today. Sprawl-Busters reported on December 10, 2006 that Wal-Mart had decided to appeal the 57-page decision of Hearing Officer Joe Turner, rejecting a proposed supercenter. Turner’s decision said that the developer, PacLand, “failed to sustain the burden of proof that the car trip distribution estimates for vehicles leaving the site are accurate…” A combination of the developer’s insubstantial traffic impact data, and the citizen group, Gresham First’s, expert traffic analysis, left the Hearing Officer without solid evidence that the impact on this intersection would meet the city’s traffic standards. Many other issues were raised, but as the Hearing Officer noted, “Opponents of the proposed development raised a number of other issues including, but not limited to, potential environmental impacts, increased crime, visual impacts, tree removal and impacts on the locally economy and businesses. Those issues were not raised in the Notice Of Appeal and therefore are beyond the scope of the appeal.” Wal-Mart appealed the Hearing Officer’s decision to the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals, stating, “We do not agree with the hearings examiner’s decision on traffic.We feel that, if traffic is viewed under normal conditions, our traffic study and plans are a good fit for the area.” But the LUBA only sent the case back to the Hearing Officer, who today rejected Wal-Mart’s plans a second time. Turner said that Wal-Mart still failed to “sustain the burden of proof” about their assumptions on traffic. He said specifically, Wal-Mart failed to demonstrate that traffic from the development wouldn’t exceed minimum levels under city code. Here is the report from the frontlines sent to Sprawl-Busters by Gresham First: “Wal-Mart’s proposal to build a Super-Center is southwest Gresham was denied today by Hearings Officer Joe Turner.

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Posted by Al Norman on Friday, June 01 | 0 comments | Permalink

Blacksburg, VA. Special Permit On Big Box Stores Passes Unanimously

Large scale retail projects in the town of Blacksburg, Virginia will face a lot more scrutiny because of a new zoning law passed yesterday. On May 14, 2007, Sprawl-Busters reported that the town of Blacksburg was going to vote on land use ordinance 1450, which would limit the size of retail buildings in town to 80,000 s.f. Larger buildings would require a special use permit issued by the town council. Jubilant residents tell Sprawl-Busters today that they have at least succeeded in getting their zoning law passed. “Last night, after a marathon 5-hour public hearing,” citizens wrote, “the Blacksburg Town Council passed, by a 7-0 vote, an ordinance that will require a special use permit for any retail over 80,000 square feet. A grassroots effort by Blacksburg United for Responsible Growth (BURG) brought in petitions with over 3,500 signatures. This was more than the total number of votes cast in the last, hotly contested, mayoral election. Speakers at the hearing in favor of the ordinance outnumbered those opposed by a ratio of 8 to 1. Almost all of the opposition to the ordinance came from individuals with a direct stake in a development on South Main Street that includes a Wal-Mart Supercenter. The ordinance gives us the breathing room we need to have the thorough study and public discussion of the best way of regulating big box development. We will be looking at ways to strengthen the protections of the new ordinance. In order to circumvent the new law and the will of the town’s residents, the developers of the South Main project have already sued the town. They have asked the circuit court to retroactively award them vested rights to build their supercenter. BURG is considering joining the case on the town’s side. We are elated at the unequivocal statement that the Town Council has made, but are still focused on winning the case and stopping this project that would be disastrous for the town.”

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Posted by Al Norman on Thursday, May 31 | 0 comments | Permalink

Newmarket, NH. Wal-Mart Smells New Market in Newmarket

Everywhere Wal-Mart has stepped along the seacoast of New Hampshire, controversy has followed. In towns like Stratham and Exeter, New Hampshire, Sprawl-Busters worked with local residents to oppose Wal-Mart superstores. Today local merchants in the coastal community of Newmarket contacted Sprawl-Busters in response to a newspaper story that the giant retailer is now looking at Newmarket. You couldn’t pick a more unlikely place for a superstore. This town of roughly 8,000 people describes itself as having “white church steeples, old mill buildings, a dammed river, park land with nature walks, and good road access to beaches, skiing and golfing, Newmarket is an ideal place to work and live.” This scenic mill town along the banks of the Lamprey River and Great Bay has also been planning for nearly ten years to revitalize its existing downtown. The Main Street Reconstruction Project is the result of an extensive public process that grew out of the work of a group called the Newmarket Tomorrow Committee, which was formed by the Town Council in 1999 to formulate a vision for the future development of Downtown Newmarket. The town also recreated a Downtown Business Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District in 1998 for the purpose of financing the investment needed to attract new development and revitalize the downtown and the mills. At the time of its creation, the assessment level of all properties located within the TIF District established the tax revenue that would continue to go into the Town’s General Fund. Taxes from any subsequent increase in property value would go into the TIF Fund. These “incremental taxes” are not subject to County or State education taxes, so all of the money stays in Newmarket. Town voters approved bonding authority of $2.0 million in 1998 and $2.5 million in 2003 to help improve the downtown. Despite all this focus on the core downtown, and local businesses, the Exeter News-Letter reports that Wal-Mart is sniffing around the edges of Newmarket. “I have been told there is work being done to evaluate a site in town (for a potential Wal-Mart store),” said town Planner Diane Hardy. “No paperwork has been filed with us yet.” The newspaper also cited a Planning Board member confirming that Wal-Mart is definitely looking at Newmarket as a possible location for a new store. “The town manager mentioned it to (the members of the board),” the local board member said. “He was kind of informing us it’s in the works.” Wal-Mart, as ususal, denied any specific plans for Newmarket, just as they did in Stratham and Exeter, where they encountered strong local opposition. “While Wal-Mart is interested in the entire southern New Hampshire area, we have not publicly announced plans for Newmarket,” said the company’s senior manager for public affairs. The site Wal-Mart wants, local merchants told us, is the Rockingham Country Club and Golf Course, located at the corner of Route 108 and Ash Swamp Road. The golf club owner denied any knowledge of the plan. “As far as I know, Wal-Mart is not coming here,” she said. Score that comment as a double-bogey.

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Posted by Al Norman on Thursday, May 31 | 0 comments | Permalink

Pep Rally, Theatrical Spectacle and Strategic Board Meeting All in One

An air of carnival invades Benton County, Arkansas, this week as shareholders and employees from around the world flock to Wal-Mart’s world headquarters in Bentonville. The company’s annual shareholder meeting will take place this Friday: more a highly-orchestrated theatrical event than an open forum for discussion, the meeting is nonetheless a chance to examine where the company is and where it’s headed. Several stories already this week have begun to examine what’s in store for the annual meeting.

We here at Wal-Mart Watch are also looking forward to the meeting - and not just because Kool and the Gang are slated to perform. Check here Friday morning for live blogging of the event, starting at 7 AM central time (8 AM eastern).

Wal-Mart meeting wows workers [Northwest Arkansas News]

Let the show begin.

The annual pep rally, entertainment extravaganza and business gathering — otherwise known as the Wal-Mart Stores Inc. shareholders meeting week — is under way…

“Wal-Mart’s had, in some respects, a bad year, and allowing shareholders to ask questions is a good thing,” said Patricia Edwards, a fund manager with Wentworth, Hauser & Violich, Investment Counselors, in Seattle.

Retailer’s Riddle: Grow or Invest? [Wall Street Journal]

Amid the festivities at Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s annual shareholders meeting on Friday, analysts and investors plan to press for answers on a seminal concern: How soon will the retailer significantly curtail its U.S. growth to focus more resources on its faltering base of existing stores?

It is a question that Wal-Mart has faced repeatedly as a maturing retailer. But pressure on Wal-Mart to act dramatically on the issue is intensifying.

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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Wednesday, May 30 | 4 comments | Permalink

LOCAL RESIDENTS PROTEST AT WMT SHAREHOLDER MEETING

Group Plans Shareholders Protest [(Ark.) Morning News]What would a Wal-Mart shareholders meeting be without a protest?

Around 40 to 50 people are expected to meet at the Fayetteville High School parking lot Friday and then march to the Wal-Mart shareholders meeting at Bud Walton Arena on the University of Arkansas campus. They are part of Against the Wal, a local group that has held similar protests at the world’s largest retailer’s annual meeting for the last four years, said spokeswoman Rozlyn Grace.

“The core group is built of local people because we feel that Wal-Mart controls the local community here in Northwest Arkansas,” Grace said in an e-mail to The Morning News. “We are completely independent and not supported or connected to any other project, such as Wal-Mart Watch or Wake-Up Wal-Mart,” union-backed groups based in Washington that are highly critical of the company.

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Posted by Jason Korta on Wednesday, May 30 | 0 comments | Permalink

Spring, PA. Wal-Mart Bounced Out of Spring

On January 25, 2007, Sprawl-Busters reported that Wal-Mart had attempted to use the court system to intimidate public officials in Spring Township, Pennsylvania. Wal-Mart took the township to court, charging that the township’s supervisors and attorney were “biased” against the retailer’s plans for a supercenter. But a judge in Berks County, Pennsylvania rejected Wal-Mart’s claim, and ruled that the officials can continue to lead the zoning hearing for a proposed store, located at Broadcasting and Paper Mill roads. Now, four months later, the giant retailer has withdrawn its application entirely. Wal-Mart and the landowner, Tulpehocken Ltd., from Wyomissing, :Pennsylvania, announced at a public hearing two days ago that they will withdraw their plan for the shopping center on a 68-acre site. The Broadcast Pointe proposal included a Wal-Mart Supercenter, four other stores, three restaurants and a bank. The store would have replaced the Wal-Mart discount store in nearby Wyomissing. This ends a two year old controversial application that forced local residents to spring into action. At the public hearing, Wal-Mart’s lawyer read a prepared statement which read, “Wal-Mart has very carefully considered its current operations in the immediate vicinity of the supercenter proposed for the township of Spring. Based on our analysis of existing operations, Wal-Mart has decided to withdraw the conditional-use application and Tulpehocken Ltd. joins in that decision. Wal-Mart will continue to serve our Berks County customers at the Wal-Mart store in Wyomissing and other stores nearby.” That brief statement was then followed by an explosion of applause from the residents at the hearing. “That is what we have been hoping for for 23 months,” Ginny Chudgar, a spokeswoman for the group, Spring Township Organized For Proper Planning, STOPP, told the Reading Eagle.

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Posted by Al Norman on Monday, May 28 | 0 comments | Permalink

Massachusetts Site Fight: Fail-Safe Review Sought on Plan

Fail-safe review sought on plan [Worcester Telegram]

WORCESTER— Ten city residents have petitioned the state secretary of Environmental Affairs for a “fail-safe review” of the proposed Worcester Crossing shopping center development — which includes a 209,000-square-foot Wal-Mart Supercenter — in Quinsigamond Village.

The group has asked for the review because it believes the project is subject to the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act Office, requires the filing of an Environmental Notification Form, and compliance with other environmental provisions to avoid or minimize damage to the environment.

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Posted by Jason Korta on Friday, May 25 | 0 comments | Permalink

Texas Site Fight: Wal-Mart Meets with Southside Residents

Wal-Mart meets with Southside residents [Corpus Christi Caller-Times]

Increased traffic problems topped the list of residents’ concerns at an open house for a proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter on the city’s Southside. 

Security and safety concerns also were among comments from the more than 350 residents who attended the meeting at Second Baptist Church, 6701 S. Staples, on Thursday.

“People will do what they have to do to avoid the traffic on Staples, and I don’t want my kids to be in danger when they are playing in the yard,” said Charles Deason, who lives in the Barkley Grove subdivision.

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Posted by Jason Korta on Friday, May 25 | 0 comments | Permalink

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