Estero, FL. Wal-Mart Still Trying After Four Years
On August 10, 2004, Sprawl-Busters reported that Wal-Mart was left with no place to park its cars in Estero, Florida. A Hearing Examiner in Lee County Florida had turned down an appeal filed by Wal-Mart. The retailer was trying to build a 228,000 s.f. supercenter off Coconut Road in Estero.
The store would be located on Route 41. Because of the significant amount of nearby residential property, Wal-Mart representatives said they would provide increased landscaping for the project, and give the store a “Mediterranean design” to blend in better with existing buildings. The company also said it would pay for a private access road for residents.
Echoing comments made by Wal-Mart’s CEO recently at the company’s Annual Stockholder’s meeting, the local engineer pitching the project told residents: “Wal-Mart is an active community member. It acts as a good neighbor.” But many residents didn’t like the sound of a 4-foot earth and berm mound, plus a 6-foot high screening wall. Wal-Mart also offered to put their huge store 240 feet away from residential property, even though the town’s zoning code would have allowed them to move within 25 feet of residential property lines.
To the north of the proposed site is a housing development called The Vines. Wal-Mart promised these residents that the company would pick up the one-time cost of a gated access road. However, the on-going maintenance costs for the road would fall to homeowners.
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Posted by Al Norman on Monday, September 22 | 0 comments | Permalink
FLORIDA SITE FIGHT: WAL-MART EYES EAST MANATEE
Wal-Mart considers building east of I-75 [Herald-Tribune (Fla.)]
EAST MANATEE -
Wal-Mart may reach farther into the growing East Manatee market with a new Supercenter at a site east of Interstate 75 at the doorstep of Lakewood Ranch and other large subdivisions.
The discount giant is looking at recently cleared land on the southeast corner of I-75 and State Road 70, said Michelle Belaire, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman.
While there is no contract in the works at this time, Belaire said the River Club Park of Commerce, a 245-acre site with about 65 acres set aside for commercial development, could house a 195,000-square-foot Wal-Mart Supercenter.
Several potential tenants have sniffed around, but nothing is confirmed, said Drew Smith, executive vice president of Casto Lifestyle Properties, which is handling the development of the park’s commercial section.
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Posted by Luke West on Friday, September 19 | 0 comments | Permalink
FLORIDA SITE FIGHT: WAL-MART EAGER IN ESTERO
Wal-Mart antsy to build Estero store [Ft. Myers News-Press (Fla.)]
Wal-Mart officials are trying to get construction of their Estero store started early.
Store officials met with Estero leaders this week to talk about beginning construction before U.S. 41 is expanded to six lanes.
Wal-Mart is seeking to waive a specification binding the store’s construction to the widening of a 2.5-mile stretch of U.S. 41, between Estero and San Carlos Park.
They want to see construction start on their 228,000-square-foot store, at the northeast corner of U.S. 41 and Estero Parkway, by early 2010.
A spokeswoman from Wal-Mart could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
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Posted by Luke West on Thursday, September 18 | 0 comments | Permalink
TENNESSEE SITE FIGHT: SHOWDOWN IN CORDOVA
Cordova Prepares for Showdown Over Proposed Wal-Mart [My Eyewitness News (Tenn.)]
Cordova, TN—Cordova residents are ready to wage war against Wal-Mart. The retail giant has plans to build a 150,000 square foot Super Center near the corner of Houston Levee and Macon Roads. But critics say the store will create traffic and safety problems for the rural area. A grassroots coalition of concerned Cordova residents has been fighting to keep the store from being built.
The Land Use Control Board has already given approval to the Wal-Mart project, but the Shelby County Commission and Memphis City Council have not yet signed off. The coalition, led by attorney Brian Stephens, is hoping to convince elected officials that the area is not prepared to handle all the traffic that a Wal-Mart Super Center will attract.
“People are also worried about ambulances and Sheriff’s deputies being able to get through all the bottlenecks,” he says. Stephens believes the Wal-Mart would require major improvements to Macon and Houston Levee Roads at the expense of all Shelby County taxpayers. “Money is being taken away from other projects and from other roads to improve roads for something citizens don’t want,” says Stephens.
Wal-Mart has committed to pay $1.4 million to build turn lanes in front of its store. Wal-Mart also plans to keep the building well landscaped and attractive from the road.
Next week, county and city officials will hold hearings about the Wal-Mart proposal.
Also See: In Brief: No decision on Cordova Wal-Mart store [Memphis Commercial Appeal (Tenn.)]
Commission, council to consider Wal-Mart project next week [Memphis Business Journal (Tenn.)]
Posted by Luke West on Thursday, September 18 | 0 comments | Permalink
Cordova, TN. Two Calls Needed To Stop Wal-Mart Supercenter
Things are about to come to a head in Cordova, Tennessee over a controversial Wal-Mart superstore project. On July 8, 2008, Sprawl-Busters noted that Wal-Mart had shrunk the size of its proposed superstore, cut down the parking lot, and even offered to pay for road improvements---all to woo support in Cordova, Tennessee. In January of 2008, Wal-Mart announced that it wanted to build a supercenter in Cordova---a community located on the northeast side of the City of Memphis with a population of roughly 53,000 people. When Wal-Mart’s plans became known in Cordova, a non-profit group, the Gray’s Creek Association (GCA), began putting up signs along a large area of unincorporated land that read: “Gray’s Creek Preservation Area.” The group pushed for smart growth development in Cordova---not Wal-Marts.
The area is already saturated with Wal-Marts. A total of 14 Wal-Mart stores are located within 20 miles of Cordova, including a Wal-Mart supercenter on Germantown Parkway just minutes away, and a supercenter in Bartlett 4 miles away. In fact, 8 of the 14 Wal-Marts within 20 miles of Cordova are supercenters. There is no conceivable market need for additional Wal-Marts. The location of Wal-Mart’s latest proposal along Macon and Houston Levee roads, is located on land within the Gray’s Creek Plan, a set of guidelines that Memphis and Shelby County adopted to preserve the area’s property values and to protect it from intense commercial growth. Folks in Cordova had been hoping that Wal-Mart would build their store in the 1.2 million s.f. Mall of Memphis. The giant retailer was under contract to buy 22.5 acres of land there, and had submitted site plans for a 175,000 s.f. store with city and county officials.
But last November, Wal-Mart announced that it was pulling out of the Mall of Memphis, citing the company’s national retrenchment of new superstore development. County planners recommended in December of 2007 that the Land Use Control Board (LUCB) toss out Wal-Mart’s plan, because the local roadways cannot handle the influx of projected traffic. As the neighbors got more upset, Wal-Mart began asking the LUCB for more time to work on their plan. The retailer asked the Board to delay its hearing until February, 2008. The Board had already agreed once to give county planners more time to review the project, and for community groups to meet with the Wal-Mart, to urge the company to come up with more of a “creative town center-style design.” County Planners agreed with neighbors that the Board should reject the plan because of worries of how the intersection of two lane roads would handle the cars. Wal-Mart’s reaction to these concerns showed more than a little corporate insensitivity. “We neither agree nor disagree,” said Wal-Mart’s senior manager of public affairs.
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Posted by Al Norman on Thursday, September 18 | 0 comments | Permalink
TENNESSEE SITE FIGHT: RESIDENTS MEET TO FIGHT WAL-MART
Opponents to plot Houston Levee Wal-Mart fight [Memphis Commercial Appeal (Tenn.)]
A group opposed to a planned Wal-Mart SuperCenter at Houston Levee and Macon roads will have a galvanizing meeting Thursday before trying to sway the city and county legislative bodies to its side next week.
Hearings on whether to reverse the Land Use Control Board’s approval of Wal-Mart’s project are set for Monday in the Shelby County Commission and Tuesday at Memphis City Council.
A County Commission committee will hold preliminary discussions on the issue today. Wal-Mart needs approval from both bodies to move forward on the project.
Citizens for Sustainable Growth—a grassroots coalition of community groups that includes the Cordova Leadership Council, the Gray’s Creek Association, and Parents and Friends of Macon Hall Elementary—formed to appeal the land use board’s approval.
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Posted by Luke West on Wednesday, September 17 | 0 comments | Permalink
Wal-Mart Watch Weekly Update For Elected Officials 9/16/2008
Check out this week’s issue of the Wal-Mart Watch Weekly Update for Elected Officials – a compilation of Wal-Mart news from across the country and beyond.
This week’s issue begins with reports from two states that Wal-Mart is undercutting high school activity and athletic fundraising by selling merchandise bearing the logos of local high schools. In both cases, the schools in question were never contacted by Wal-Mart about whether sales of the items would hurt the school’s efforts to raise funds.
In addition, you’ll find Time and The New York Times delving into the topic of Wal-Mart moms, and the role they’ll play in the November election. Plus, check out our section on Wal-Mart and the environment to find out more about the unethical behavior of Wal-Mart’s sustainable mining supplier, and from California read about how the retail giant fought (unsuccessfully) a port-truck plan that would require tougher environmental and security standards.
And finally, check out our “Stateside” and “Wal-Mart International” sections to find out what’s going on with Wal-Mart around the country and across the globe.
Wal-Mart Watch Weekly Update for Elected Officials
Posted by Corey Himrod on Tuesday, September 16 | 5 comments | Permalink
Relief for diabetic customers: Check. Diabetic employees? Not so much.
In a press release distributed this morning, Wal-Mart has announced that it is “once again driving unnecessary health care costs out of the system and passing the savings along to its customers through the pharmacy aisles.”
How is it doing it this time? By offering exclusive-to-Wal-Mart diabetes management products for $9 each at all Wal-Mart pharmacies nationwide. That, might I say, is quite excellent actually. I myself don’t have - and don’t have immediate family members who have - diabetes. But I’ve known and worked with people who do, and one thing an individual with diabetes shouldn’t have to worry about is the cost of testing and treatment supplies, which I could imagine can get quite expensive.
No, the problem with this story isn’t in what Wal-Mart is announcing. It is, instead, the way in which Wal-Mart has treated its own employees who have diabetes. Helping the masses might seem a little nicer if the company treated its own diabetic employees with slightly more compassion and understanding.
The gold standard of what I’m talking about is the story of Stephen Orr. Orr worked as a pharmacist at a Nebraska Wal-Mart. Orr has Type 1 diabetes, a condition in which the body does not produce insulin, a hormone needed to convert sugar, starches and other food into the energy needed for daily life. As a result, Orr must administer insulin to himself several times each day. For a while, management allowed him to, you know, do the things he needed to do over the course of a day to stay alive...like actually take a lunch break. Eventually though, business and customer traffic forced Wal-Mart - instead of hiring an additional pharmacist - to inform Orr he could no longer take a break to eat and rest. In fact, he was told to eat behind the pharmacy counter if and when store traffic slowed. If you can’t guess what happened, I’ll tell you - Orr’s blood glucose levels dropped severely on multiple occasions, causing him to experience symptoms of hypoglycemia, which can include dizziness or lightheadedness, confusion, difficulty speaking, and feeling anxious or weak. Wal-Mart still refused to accommodate him, and his manager eventually fired him, explicitly telling him it was because of his diabetes.
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Posted by Corey Himrod on Tuesday, September 16 | 0 comments | Permalink
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