Florida Site Fight: Wal-Mart Scales Back
Wal-Mart proposes smaller Supercenter for Plaza Collina [Orlando Sentinel (Florida)] 
But Plaza Collina has still not filed a revised plan on the settlement it reached with nearby residents.
CLERMONT - The world’s biggest retailer has submitted plans for a new store in Lake County’s biggest proposed shopping center.
Thing is, however, the Wal-Mart Supercenter may not be as large as originally planned—the massive building has been slimmed by as much as 20,000 square feet. It also will not have some features of other Supercenter locations, according to company officials.
It could be among several changes that Plaza Collina has undergone since last year to stake its claim along busy State Road 50 east of Clermont.
Wal-Mart submitted plans just before Christmas to get initial comments from county planners. That input could affect how the retailer moves forward with the project.
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Posted by Andrew Yonki on Friday, January 04 | 0 comments | Permalink
Florida Site Fight: Smaller Wal-Mart Proposed
Wal-Mart proposes smaller Supercenter for Plaza Collina [Orlando Sentinel (Fla.)]
But Plaza Collina has still not filed a revised plan on the settlement it reached with nearby residents.
CLERMONT - The world’s biggest retailer has submitted plans for a new store in Lake County’s biggest proposed shopping center.
Thing is, however, the Wal-Mart Supercenter may not be as large as originally planned—the massive building has been slimmed by as much as 20,000 square feet. It also will not have some features of other Supercenter locations, according to company officials.
It could be among several changes that Plaza Collina has undergone since last year to stake its claim along busy State Road 50 east of Clermont.
Wal-Mart submitted plans just before Christmas to get initial comments from county planners. That input could affect how the retailer moves forward with the project.
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Andrew Yonki on Thursday, January 03 | 0 comments | Permalink
Brooksville, FL. Wal-Mart Concedes Defeat
Neighborhood Relieved By Wal-Mart’s Retreat [Hernando Today (Calif.)]
Arnold Silver considers it a belated but welcome holiday gift.
Silver and other residents near Barclay Avenue are thankful this week after learning that Wal-Mart will not continue its effort to build a supercenter on a site near Powell Middle School.
“I’m delighted to hear this,” said Silver, a Silverthorn resident and one of many vocal opponents of the plan. “It’s a bit of very good news.”
The retailer announced Friday that it won’t pursue further legal action to build on the parcel, which is on the east side of Barclay between Suncoast Villa Apartments and the Publix-anchored Barclay Square at Spring Hill Drive.
Wal-Mart is acting “in good faith” to find a more suitable site and has its eye on property on the northeast corner of Hernando-Pasco County Line Road and the Suncoast Parkway, spokeswoman Quenta Vettel said.
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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Wednesday, January 02 | 0 comments | Permalink
Brooksville, FL. Wal-Mart Drops Site, Ends Legal Fight
On December 27, 2007, Sprawl-Busters reported that Wal-Mart was locked into a bitter battle with Hernando County officials over a site in Brooksville, Florida, and a mediation process had led nowhere. “The mediation ended in an impasse,” the Assistant County Attorney told Hernando Today. The next step would have been taking the dispute to a Magistrate, who would conduct an independent assessment of the dispute, and come up with a decision on what should happen with the property. That decision, however, would have been nonbinding on the parties, and the case likely would have wound up in court. Wal-Mart charged that county officials violated the rules on quasi-judicial proceedings, which prohibit officials from making pre-conceived judgments. The county commission in May denied Wal-Mart’s request to build on the Barclay parcel. Commissioners said the store would create too much traffic along Barclay and create potential safety problems for nearby schools and subdivisions.
Wal-Mart then asked for a mediator under Florida law, but that road led nowhere. “If Wal-Mart wants to be a good community partner they need to listen to the community leaders ...I don’t believe that location is suitable for a Wal-Mart Supercenter or any super store,” County Commissioner David Russell said. Apparently Wal-Mart must have been listening, because the giant retailer gave the residents of Brooksville a New Year present: No Supercenter on Barclay. Wal-Mart announced December 28th that is was dropping its pursuit of the site, and would no take any further legal action against the county. That was the good news. The bad news is the retailer says it is actively negotiating to propose a second site on County Line Road. “If there’s a possibility of coming back and finding a site and working with the county, we’d rather do that than take it to the legal realm,” a Wal-Mart spokesman said. That was sweet music to the ears of the United Communities Save Our Neighborhood, a citizen’s group set up by local homeowners’ associations to block the development of Wal-Mart or any other big box store near their homes. United Communities told Hernando Today that they were prepared to “ask the people of this county if they wanted to support the other three (Wal-Mart) stores” in Hernando if the retailer kept up its legal challenge. “As far I’m concerned, they made a wise business decision and we’re happy with it,” a spokesman for the citizens’ group said.
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Posted by Al Norman on Wednesday, January 02 | 0 comments | Permalink
Forsyth, GA. Mayor Sells Home to Wal-Mart, Dumped By Voters
The Mayor of Forsyth, Georgia has sold his property for a Wal-Mart supercenter---and lost his public office in the process. On July 22, 2006, Sprawl-Busters heard from residents in Forsyth, Georgia, who were battling not only a Wal-Mart supercenter, but city officials with a strong conflict of interest. The Forsyth City Council voted 4-1 last year to approve the rezoning of nine parcels of land for a Wal-Mart Supercenter-—despite strong objections from neighbors. Residents said at hearings that a superstore would dramatically change the character of their historic neighborhood, and cause property values to fall. Wal-Mart already has a smaller store in Forsyth right next to the proposed supercenter. Forsyth is a city which had a population of less than 4,000 people in the 2000 census—a drop of 10% since 1990. Yet Wal-Mart wants to build on 28 acres of land next to the Plantation Shopping Center---where Wal-Mart’s discount store is located. If the superstore opens, the discount store will be shut down, leaving the Plantation center without its main anchor store. The land Wal-Mart wants has residential zoning along a frontage strip, with commercial zoning behind it.
Wal-Mart wants to see all the parcels entirely commercial. The city’s rezoning vote came just hours after the city itself ended an initial lawsuit brought against it by its own residents complaining about lack of due process. The city admitted that it had made a mistake in rezoning the land. The lawsuit charged that city officials had adopted a new zoning ordinance without proper public notice. A Towaliga Judicial Circuit Chief Superior Court Judge was scheduled to make a preliminary ruling on the lawsuit, when the city Attorney admitted that the new ordinances, adopted June 6, 2006 were void, and that the city needed to advertise for another meeting and vote again. “We accept the fact that we advertised notice of the meeting only 14 days before the meeting, and by law it must be advertised for a minimum of 15 days,” the city said. The Judge had suggested to the city council that they send the issue back to their Planning and Zoning board for a recommendation, but the council rushed the rezoning through again without seeking any planning recommendations. “I don’t know what their rush was,” the lawyer for the Forsyth couple who sued the city told The Telegraph newspaper. “But this isn’t the end. We’ll consider our options and continue the effort to stop the project.”
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Posted by Al Norman on Wednesday, January 02 | 0 comments | Permalink
Georgia Site Fight: Duluth Wal-Mart Saga Drags On
Wal-Mart request for variances postponed [Atlanta Journal-Constitution]
It took less than 10 minutes for Duluth’s Board of Zoning Appeals to postpone the next chapter in the Wal-Mart saga.
The board voted unanimously Wednesday night to table the retailer’s three variance requests until its January meeting.
The board’s chairman noted the city adopted a lengthy set of new rules regarding all large-scale development only two days ago. It only made sense to give everyone time to study those rules before considering Wal-Mart’s requests.
“We need to see what it states,” Art Salus said, “because it might have an effect on the outcome, whether it’s pro or against.”
Wal-Mart spokesman Glen Wilkins, who attended the meeting along with landowner Jack Bandy and his attorney, former Gov. Roy Barnes, said he’s disappointed once again to have no resolution — but not surprised.
“Obviously,” Wilkins said, “you can’t tell what’s going to happen in this city.”
Posted by Andrew Yonki on Thursday, December 20 | 1 comments | Permalink
Wal-Mart Says “No” to Food Banks
Wal-Mart and supplier partner ConAgra donated approximately 85 trucks worth of food to food banks this week. This may sound substantial, but Wal-Mart is a major part of why food banks are short of food in the first place. In 2006, Wal-Mart stopped donating excess food to food banks, creating a nation-wide shortage. As a practice, the company continues to refuse to donate at all. To quote Wal-Mart spokes person Robert Mosby earlier this month:
But when it comes to excess or soon-to-expire perishables in its stores, Wal-Mart doesn’t allow food banks to make pickups. “Our current policy for food is to discard it, primarily for the safety of our customers,” Mosby said.
The company cites “customer safety” as its reason for destroying food, but liability avoidance and profit protection also come into play.
Wal-Mart’s policy change has been a huge blow to food banks. In addition to losing Wal-Mart’s donations, food banks also lost the donations of many local grocers who had strong ties to the community. When Wal-Mart enters a local market many small grocers with stronger ties to the community close their doors, and food banks loose these donations as well.
While a new Wal-Mart often means lost jobs and fewer small local businesses, those who are left behind struggle even more because community resources such as food banks also struggle in Wal-Mart’s wake. Food banks are dependent on grocers, and Wal-Mart’s one-time donations fall far short of redressing the harm its corporate practices inflict. Though Wal-Mart claims to care about its communities, the company’s practices make clear that it cares more about liability and profits and less about poverty and hunger.
Refusing to donate nearly-expired perishables to food banks creates unnecessary waste, increases the problems surrounding poverty, is unsustainable, and despite the company’s slogan it does not help people live better. When addressing the shortages of food banks and addressing the needs of such places, Wal-Mart needs to critically examine how its practices and policies contributed to these shortages.
Posted by Research Team on Wednesday, December 19 | 28 comments | Permalink
Blacksburg, VA. Big Box Court Decision Expected
Blacksburg big-box case awaits judge’s ruling [The Roanoke Times (Va.)]
Officials, activists and developers who have waited for months to get a court ruling on an Ohio firm’s right to build a big-box retail store in Blacksburg will have to wait several more weeks for a decision.
After more than three hours of arguments from four attorneys Tuesday, Montgomery County Circuit Judge Bobby Turk wished the parties good health and a happy holiday season, then told them they would have to wait up to four more weeks for his ruling. The judge will decide whether Fairmount Properties of Ohio may build a 186,000-square-foot big-box store along Country Club Drive—widely thought to be a Wal-Mart Supercenter—without further review from Blacksburg Town Council.
Rocking back and forth in his chair with glasses dangling from his lips, Turk presided over a courtroom populated by nearly a dozen attorneys and about 40 assorted activists, officials and developers. The judge spent considerable time questioning the town’s actions.
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Posted by Andrew Yonki on Wednesday, December 19 | 0 comments | Permalink
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