Venice, FL. Planning Commission Unanimously Rejects Wal-Mart Proposal

On October 13, 2007 Sprawl-Busters reported that the idea of a Wal-Mart supercenter was not floating many boats in Venice, Florida. The city promotes its “beautiful beaches, a quaint downtown shopping area, and the old Florida scenery along the Myakka River…miles of white sand, sea shells and the prehistoric shark teeth.” Venice calls itself the “Sharks Tooth Capital of the world.” But another shark---this one retail---is taking a big bite out of Venice. The city has made a point of preserving the original character of Venice, creating the Historic Venice District and an Architectural Review Board to ensure that new construction or modification of existing buildings conform to the northern Italian Renaissance style of the city’s original architecture. The state also designated the community as a Florida Main Street City to “assure the city’s heritage will be preserved.” But Venice is an island surrounded by sprawl. There are 7 Wal-Mart’s within 20 miles of Venice, 5 of them are supercenters, including a supercenter right in Venice on South Tamiami Trail. But the Arkansas retailer has presented plans for a supercenter on Laurel Road near the tony Venetian Golf & River Club. “Wal-Mart would destroy the community that can economically support quality shops,” Venetian residents told city officials. The proposed 200,000-s.f. Wal-Mart inside the 73-acre Renaissance development east of Interstate 75 came before Venice’s planning commission this week. According to the Herald Tribune, people in Venice want commercial development---they just don’t want Wal-Mart. “We really need commercial development, but we need the right kind of commercial development,” Venetian Golf & River Club resident John Moeckel told the newspaper. Moeckel organized a write-in campaign against Wal-Mart, in his capacity as chairman of the local community association.

Residents are upset by the scale of the store, and the impact of traffic on the two lane roadway. “They want boutiques, not big boxes,” the Herald Tribune said, and claim city leaders promised an attractive mixed-use town center. The original plan was to build 20 acres of mixed-use commercial retail and office space, including a movie theater complex and restaurants, next to 50 acres with homes and condos with up to 731 units, creating a village. But the developer pulled a classic bait-and-switch, cutting the housing units from 731 units to 200 units, killing off the central park, and replacing it with a retail center anchored by Wal-Mart.

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Posted by Al Norman on Thursday, November 08 | 0 comments | Permalink

Venice, FL. Wal-Mart Plan Denied

Wal-Mart site plan denied [Venice Gondolier (Fla.)]

The Renaissance project on 75 acres off Laurel Road received good news and bad news Tuesday.

The Venice Planning Commission OK’d phase 1A of the four-phase project. Phase 1A calls for a four-story hotel and retail space on the western 15 acres along Knights Trail Road.

Technically the commission decision allows development to proceed. Whether that happens, however, could depend on approval of the Super Wal-Mart planned for phase 1B of the project.

The planning commission sent the Wal-Mart site plan back to the drawing board, denying the plan unanimously.

Revised site plans received by the city last week didn’t go far enough in scaling back parking, creating more green space, connecting sidewalk and creating parks or meeting the commission’s idea of architectural standards, commissioners said.

In short, it was too different from the original “village” concept plan with residential housing above retail shops in some areas, and interconnected walkways surrounding a substantial central park that connected to a large residential development on the eastern side of the site.

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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Wednesday, November 07 | 0 comments | Permalink

Wal-Mart Starts Using Battle-Mart Tactics

The “New England Customer Action Network” claims to be for the people...that is, for the people who are for Wal-Mart. The astroturf organization (run by Wal-Mart) is using grassroots organizing techniques to further the company’s cause in what has proven to be one of the most contentious areas of the country for the retailer. The company also created the “California Customer Action Network,” targeting activists in California where Wal-Mart faces site fights in several areas. The whole project reveals the fact that site fights have become a major issue for the retailer in its efforts to expand. Not only are more citizens working to fight the retailer, more and more often they’re winning. Visit our Battle-Mart blog to read more about fighting Wal-Mart, or our State and Local page to see what’s happening in your part of the country.

A human face on a big-box store [Boston Globe]

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is turning to customers for help in expanding its business in New England.

Over the last month, the retail giant has set up tables at many of its stores and invited customers to sign up for a New England Customer Action Network. The group is a sort of Wal-Mart defense league that can be tapped if the retailer faces local opposition to its expansion plans.

“If government officials try to limit your shopping choices, or prevent Wal-Mart from opening new stores or improving existing stores, Customer Action Network members can help by standing up for their rights,” said one flier. Company officials say more than 26,000 customers have signed up so far, 7,500 of them in Massachusetts.

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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Monday, November 05 | 4 comments | Permalink

East Albany, GA. Wal-Mart Confirmed

Dougherty Wal-Mart confirmed [Albany Herald (Ga.)]

After four years of waiting and a series of “wolf calls,” Wal-Mart Stores Inc. announced Tuesday that it will open an East Albany facility, erecting there one of the country’s largest Supercenters.

Glenn Wilkins, senior public affairs manager for Wal-Mart, said the East Albany community is primed for growth, and the world’s largest retailer wants to get in on it.

“It’s not build it and they’ll come,” said Wilkins after the 9:30 a.m. news conference, held at the Albany Area Chamber of Commerce. “We look at the statistics and the roofs. ... We want to help it grow.”

In the eyes of local officials, Wal-Mart is the catalyst that will propel East Albany.

“Our East Albany is really looking for a new identify and a chance to grow, and this is the stimulus,” said Dougherty County Commission Chair Jeff Sinyard, who could hardly have been more excited about the news.

The Albany Area Chamber of Commerce expects the new store to generate $110 million-$115 million in revenue.

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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Wednesday, October 31 | 0 comments | Permalink

Duluth, GA. Man Sues Town over Big Box Ban

Duluth sued by landowner who plans to sell to Wal-Mart [Atlanta Journal-Constitution]

A man who wants to sell 27 acres in Duluth to Wal-Mart sued the city’s mayor and city council in Gwinnett Superior Court on Monday.

Jack Bandy’s suit, filed on his behalf by former Gov. Roy Barnes, says the landowner was nearing a deal to sell land to Wal-Mart when “a few vocal residents ... began to pressure the mayor and council to stop the Wal-Mart at all costs.” Bandy’s suit says the land was properly zoned for a Wal-Mart and that he was “assured there was no legal problem.”

Amid controversy and opposition to the Wal-Mart, however, the city passed a six-month moratorium on July 30 on buildings over 75,000 square feet. That affected the proposed Wal-Mart and at least two other developments.

Bandy’s lawsuit asks a judge to invalidate the moratorium.

“We believe the big box moratorium was illegally passed in violation of the Open Meetings Act,” Barnes said in an email. “The complaint sets forth the course of action and the emails we obtained under the Open Records Act clearly shows this was not a matter that was just brought up on the spur of the minute. Since the action was taken without public notice as required under the Open Meetings Act, we believe the moratorium was not properly passed.”

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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Tuesday, October 30 | 0 comments | Permalink

Duluth, GA. Landowner Sues City Over Big Box Moratorium

When you can’t get what you want by regulation, try litigation. That’s the apparent strategy in Duluth, Georgia, where a landowner who stands to make millions of dollars by selling his 27 acre parcel to Wal-Mart for a 176,305 s.f. supercenter, has sued the city over their moratorum on big box stores. Jack Bandy, who owns the parcel, had his friend, the former Governor of Georgia, Roy Barnes, file the suit in Gwinnett Superior Court yesterday, trying to invalidate the moratorium on a technicality. Bandy wants to show that the city did not properly post notices about the meeting according to state law. The complaint charges that “a few vocal residents ... began to pressure the mayor and council to stop the Wal-Mart at all costs.” The landowner claims that his land is zoned appropriately for a big box store, and that city officials “assured there was no legal problem.” At the end of July, 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 Bandy’s Wal-Mart proposal. “We believe the big box moratorium was illegally passed in violation of the Open Meetings Act,” Governor Barnes told the Atlanta Journal Constitution. “The complaint sets forth the course of action, and the emails we obtained under the Open Records Act clearly shows this was not a matter that was just brought up on the spur of the minute. Since the action was taken without public notice as required under the Open Meetings Act, we believe the moratorium was not properly passed.” The Mayor of Duluth, Shirley Lasseter, told the newspaper, “I think it’s a shame when we lose sight of what is legal and what is not, what is acceptable and what is not---at the expense of our taxpayers. Having not seen the lawsuit yet, I certainly hope that we could come to some amenable conclusion for the betterment of the city of Duluth and all of its residents.” In other words, she’s looking to make a deal somehow with Bandy. The Wal-Mart proposal on Peachtree Industrial Boulevard has been controversial from the start.

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Posted by Al Norman on Tuesday, October 30 | 0 comments | Permalink

Duluth, GA. Wal-Mart Keeps Fighting

Wal-Mart, Duluth face off on issue [Atlanta Journal-Constitution]

Wal-Mart may have lost the first round in Duluth last week.

But the retailer still plans to build a Supercenter on 27 acres at Peachtree Industrial Boulevard and Sugarloaf Parkway, said spokesman Glen Wilkins.

The city’s Zoning Board of Appeals sided with neighbors last Wednesday in deciding that the retailer had improperly received permission from the city’s interim planning director to deviate from city building standards. Any deviation from city code, the board ruled, needed to come from the zoning board, not a city administrator.

In light of that — and the city’s moratorium on buildings more than 75,000 square feet — is Wal-Mart even considering building anything smaller in that neighborhood?

No, said Wilkins.

“The market demands that we build a store that ensures we’re able to provide the best service to our customer,” he said. “By reducing the size, we’re not able to get the product on the shelf or have the parking our customers demand.”

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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Monday, October 29 | 0 comments | Permalink

Tarpon Springs, FL. City Staff OK Site Plan, Battle Goes On

Sprawl-Busters has been narrating the battle against Wal-Mart in Tarpon Springs, Florida since April 11, 2005. A couple of days ago, local residents told Sprawl-Busters that Wal-Mart was coming back in on October 26th with a revised site plan for the city’s consideration of its 204,000 s.f., Mediterranean-style Supercenter. “The City of Tarpon Springs’ Technical Review Committee (TRC) will consider a revised Site Plan submitted by Wal-Mart for a Supercenter on the Anclote River,” the Friends of the Anclote River wrote. “The Friends and various concerned residents of Tarpon Springs will argue at the meeting that the meeting itself is inappropriate at this time, and that the proposed revised Site Plan cannot be approved by the TRC.” According to the St. Petersburg Times, two nights ago, the city’s Technical Review Committee, after a three hour hearing, voted to approve the plan---with some minor changes. But the Friends were not sitting on their hands. The group filed an appeal with the city’s Board of Adjustment, arguing that the TRC review was not warranted, because the changes Wal-Mart has made in its updated site plan are major in nature, not minor ones. Major changes would trigger further city review and public hearings. All of this back-and-forth comes on top of two years and eight months of bickering over this controversial project. The TRC is a group of city staff---not elected officials. The staff raised a number of minor issues with Wal-Mart’s plan, such as the water metering, the exotic plants that will be destroyed if the store is built---but nothing of major consequence. City staff, for example, insisted that Wal-Mart widen the entrance to its store from 25 feet to 35 feet. According to The Times, Wal-Mart’s lawyer, hearing these largely benign changes, responded, “We’ll do whatever you ask.” As long as the asking amounts to little change.