Atascadero, CA. After Setback, Wal-Mart Revises Strategy
Wal-Mart may try to go smaller in Atascadero [San Luis Obispo Tribune (Calif.)]
Wal-Mart may return later this month with a downsized proposal for a Supercenter on Atascadero’s north side, city and corporate officials said Wednesday.
A representative for the Arkansas-based retail giant told The Tribune the company is considering an amendment to its previous application that would call for a 150,000-square-foot store and 10,000-square-foot garden center at Del Rio Road and El Camino Real.
The revised plan is one of several alternatives Wal-Mart executives are weighing after the City Council voted last week not to process the company’s application for a General Plan amendment to allow for a 195,000-square-foot store.
“We’re still information gathering,” corporate spokesman Aaron Rios said. “We don’t even have an official timeline (for a decision). Obviously if we were to make a decision to amend our existing application, we would like to do that relatively soon.”
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Thursday, November 08 | 0 comments | Permalink
Pullman, WA. Community Forum to be Held
Campus club to host Wal-Mart forum [Daily Evergreen (Wash.)]
Despite it being more than three years since the idea was first considered, Pullman residents are still divided over the idea of a Wal-Mart being built in the community.
The issue has led the WSU Economics Club to hold an open forum at 7 p.m. in Todd 216.
The original plan included a Wal-Mart Supercenter with a full-service grocery center, the standard 36 departments of merchandise and a tire and lube express center being built across from Safeway, off Bishop Boulevard. When it was announced, most thought the process would be smooth with the estimated 223,000 square foot complex opening by January 2006.
But the process has been anything but smooth with petitions, complaints and groups forming on both sides of the controversial topic. The issue is at a standstill as sides wait for the outcome of an appeal challenging whether the proposed site plan and projected environmental impact of the store has satisfied state requirements.
The Appeal Pullman Planning Director Pete Dickinson said the Court of Appeals in Spokane will soon hear oral arguments by attorneys representing Wal-Mart and the Pullman Alliance for Responsible Development, which filed the appeal a year ago. He said people shouldn’t be expecting a decision in the immediate future.
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Wednesday, November 07 | 0 comments | Permalink
Suisun City, CA. Hearing Date Set
Hearing set on Wal-Mart’s Suisun bid [Vacaville Reporter (Calif.)]
The Solano County Airport Land Use Commission will hold a public hearing Thursday to consider endorsement of a proposed Wal-Mart Superstore on Walters Road in Suisun City.
The proposed project would include 230,000 square feet of commercial space including the 215,000-square foot Wal-Mart, plus a fuel station with mini-mart, an 8,000-square-foot sit-down restaurant or commercial use and parking on a 20.8-acre site at the northwest corner of Highway 12 and Walters Road.The commission will meet at 7 p.m. in the Solano County Government Center’s first-floor meeting room, 675 Texas St. in Fairfield.
The commission will consider whether or not the project is consistent with the Travis Air Force Base Land Use Compatibility Plan.
That plan sets guidelines for what can be built within a certain area around Travis, based on the potential impact the development could have on operations at the base.
Opponents of the proposed Supercenter have argued that it would negatively impact Travis. Suisun Alliance and the Suisun Citizens League in particular noted that the plan would violate the Travis land use plan’s restrictions on the number of people who can be on site of a development at any given moment.
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Wednesday, November 07 | 0 comments | Permalink
Garden Grove, CA. Wal-Mart Weed Pulled From the Garden
On July 20, 2007, Sprawl-Busters reported that a crowd estimated at 100 people turned out in Garden Grove, California to whack Wal-Mart’s weeds. A hearing before the city’s Planning Commission was called in response to the retailer’s proposal to build a two-story supercenter on Chapman Avenue. The proposal called for Wal-Mart to tear down an empty Von’s department store. The project’s environmental impact report was issued last June, concluding that the 173,000 s.f. store would have little impact on the environment or existing merchants. That report was written by consultants hired by Wal-Mart. But the neighbors were not impressed.
“We’re going to have trucks going up and down the street all times of day and night,” one neighbor told the Commission. This project has dragged on for a long time. As early as April of 2006, the United Food & Commercial Workers union staged a protest over this proposal right after Wal-Mart announced its plans. Now, a year and a half later, the retailer is leaving the Garden. According to a story in this week’s L.A. Times, Wal-Mart announced it is leaving Garden Grove without even digging in the soil-—just days before the city’s planners were going to vote on the proposal. “It was cruel the way they did it,” Garden Grove Councilman Bruce Broadwater told the newspaper. “They built people up and got the community really excited. Then they dropped the bomb on us and ran off.” The strip mall which Wal-Mart was slated to anchor, reportedly spent $2 million fixing up the center, and brought on new tenants. “You hear all these stories about Wal-Mart coming to towns and shutting other businesses down because of the competition,” said a spokesman for the mall’s owners. “Well, it’s just the opposite here. Wal-Mart not coming is going to cause a lot of these businesses to shut down, and it’s going to be impossible to lease any of these open spaces now. Businesses want to be next an anchor that brings the traffic into the center. Without an anchor, they’re dead.” Wal-Mart told the media, “As we reviewed this proposed opportunity, it no longer made financial sense for the company. The construction costs didn’t pan out for this specific project. We were doing everything in our power to make this work, but we’re continuing to look for more opportunities in Orange County.”
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Al Norman on Wednesday, November 07 | 0 comments | Permalink
Long Beach, CA. Big Box Ban To Be Overturned
A veto worth $500,000 [Long Beach (Calif.) Press Telegram]
Wal-Mart most probably never will build a superstore in Long Beach, but soon the company at least will have the satisfaction of knowing that it wouldn’t be illegal.
Mayor Bob Foster announced, two days in advance, that if the City Council votes today to go ahead with an election on the issue he will use his veto to block it. And it seems clear there wouldn’t be enough council votes to overturn his veto.
Taxpayers should relish the mayor’s logic: The city is strapped for money, and this is no time to be spending $500,000 on an unneeded election instead of useful services such as a second police helicopter, upgrading fire stations, stocking libraries, fixing streets and sidewalks or restoring recreation programs.
Foster said he can’t in good conscience support funding an election that has no immediate impact. (Actually, it has no practical purpose whatever. City Hall could easily block a superstore in the planning process without having to make it illegal to build one.)
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Tuesday, November 06 | 0 comments | Permalink
Suisun City, CA. Wal-Mart Poses Threat to Air Force Base
A Wal-Mart superstore proposed for Suisun City is drawing the fire of critics who claim the massive store would violate the buffer zone surrounding Travis Air Force Base.
That violation could be used as a reason to close the base, according to Cress Vallucci. “You can’t have more than 300 people per acre, for obvious reasons. If something falls off a plane, like it did earlier this year, and falls into an area that’s densely populated, like the middle of the sales line at Walmart, there could be some major injuries or deaths,” he said.
Opponents also say the site’s environmental impact report underestimates the risks.
The project is still in the earliest stages. Suisun City’s Vice Mayor, Jane Day, said there hasn’t even been a formal presentation yet. “We are waiting until it comes in front of us in order to look at the pros and cons of anything,” she said.
Travis Air Force Base is the county’s largest employer.
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Tuesday, November 06 | 0 comments | Permalink
Suisun City, CA. Wal-Mart Proposal Up for Consideration
Hearing set on Wal-Mart’s Suisun bid [Vacaville (Calif.) Reporter]
The Solano County Airport Land Use Commission will hold a public hearing Thursday to consider endorsement of a proposed Wal-Mart Superstore on Walters Road in Suisun City.
The proposed project would include 230,000 square feet of commercial space including the 215,000-square foot Wal-Mart, plus a fuel station with mini-mart, an 8,000-square-foot sit-down restaurant or commercial use and parking on a 20.8-acre site at the northwest corner of Highway 12 and Walters Road.The commission will meet at 7 p.m. in the Solano County Government Center’s first-floor meeting room, 675 Texas St. in Fairfield.
The commission will consider whether or not the project is consistent with the Travis Air Force Base Land Use Compatibility Plan.
That plan sets guidelines for what can be built within a certain area around Travis, based on the potential impact the development could have on operations at the base.
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Tuesday, November 06 | 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.
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Monday, November 05 | 4 comments | Permalink
View Wal-Mart Watch's videos on YouTube