OREGON SITE FIGHT: WAL-MART GIVING UP AND GIVING IN
Wal-Mart gives up on 182nd, Powell site [The Oregonian via Oregonlive.com]
Wal-Mart is throwing in the towel on efforts to build a combination grocery and discount store at the intersection of Powell Boulevard and 182nd Avenue in Gresham.
Wal-Mart spokeswoman Jennifer Holder said Wednesday that the company would not appeal a recent rejection of the proposal by a city hearings officer. It was the latest of several obstacles the retailer has faced in its 21/2-year struggle to build a supercenter at the site, and of several defeats in siting metro-area stores.
“While disappointed by the decision, a long protracted legal battle is not in anyone’s best interests,” Holder said in a news release. “Our obligation and our commitment to our customers is to find a site that works for them as well as for the city.”
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Posted by Beth Gostanian on Thursday, June 21 | 0 comments | Permalink
WASHINGTON SITE FIGHT: SEEKING AN EXTENSION
Wal-Mart seeking two-year extension [Spooner (Wash.) Advocate]
The Washburn County Executive Committee has recommended approving Wal-Mart’s request for four, six-month extensions on the purchase of 35 acres of county property at Cty. Hwy. H and Hwy. 53, where Wal-Mart proposes to build a 153,000-square-foot Supercenter.
Currently Wal-Mart is under a six-month extension, its fourth, that expires Aug. 12.
The full board of the Washburn County Board of Supervisors meeting next Tuesday will have the opportunity to approve or deny the two-year extension, proposed in four, six-month chunks.
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Posted by Beth Gostanian on Thursday, June 21 | 0 comments | Permalink
CALIFORNIA SITE FIGHT: FINAL RULING EXPECTED
Final ruling expected on Hercules Wal-Mart in September [San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News]
HERCULES, Calif.—Following years of fighting between residents, politicians and Wal-Mart executives, a final ruling is expected in September on whether the discount retailer can build a relatively modest store in Hercules.
Contra Costa Superior Court Judge Judith Craddick affirmed an earlier tentative ruling this month and invalidated a city ordinance that was used to acquire a tract owned by Wal-Mart and block the retailer’s development plans.The ordinance, which the City Council adopted last September, attempted to extend the city’s eminent domain authority in the so-called Dynamite Project Area for 12 years. The name refers to a dynamite plant that closed several decades ago, leaving a blighted landscape.
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Posted by Beth Gostanian on Tuesday, June 19 | 0 comments | Permalink
San Diego Mayor vetoes super-store ban
On June 4th, the San Diego City Council voted to ban the construction of supersized retail stores within the city, including Wal-Mart. This past week, San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders vetoed that ordinance.
The City Council voted 5-3 to ban new retail establishments larger than 90,000 square feet and which generate more than 10 percent of revenue from the sale of non-taxable goods such as groceries. The ordinance is believed to be aimed at Wal-Mart, which has pushed to build a supercenter in San Diego. Wal-Mart’s move to build a grocery-selling supercenter comes at a time when the three largest grocery chains in Southern California are currently attempting to limit employee benefits in order to compete with the giant retailer.
From the North County Times:
The City Council voted 5-3 on June 4 to ban new retail establishments within the city that are larger than 90,000 square feet and generate more than 10 percent of revenue from non-taxable goods, like groceries.
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Posted by Corey Himrod on Tuesday, June 19 | 19 comments | Permalink
Portland, OR. Shhhh. It’s Wal-Mart.
Wal-Mart is getting a wet reception in Portland, Oregon, where a Canadian developer has tried to sneak the giant retailer in under its raincoat. Sprawl-Busters received the following report from the frontlines in Oregon from the group Save Madison South: “A quiet neighborhood in Northeast Portland, Oregon got a rude wake up call in fall 2006 when a developer announced plans for a 240,000 s.f. development including a 180,000 to 190,000 s.f. big store for a former gravelpit/landfill/golf driving range site directly across from one of the city’s high schools. Residents immediately became alarmed at this initial proposal, as it far exceeded the current zoning of 60,000 s.f. and would thrust a retail environment as far back as five blocks into residential streets and add 900 parking spaces. Initial traffic estimates also back up data that this would add another 7,000+ car trips a day on NE 82nd Avenue which is already a state designed High Crash Corridor. Other concerns included obvious cut-through routes that would bring increased traffic near middle and elementary schools, in addition to the high school across the street. Jumping immediately into action, neighbors gathered at the September 2006 neighborhood meeting to hear from the developer and see the proposed design. A tense discussion followed as resident after resident queried the representative from SmartCenters, a Vancouver, BC developer who has very close ties to Wal-Mart, about the exact tenant that they were working with. The big box store was not identified, but, as SmartCenters planner Sean Fujiki admitted later in the discussion, that there was a high likelihood that it will be a Wal-Mart. In a classic case of David versus Goliath, a movement has been underway in the Madison South and Roseway neighborhoods of ordinary citizens and residents that has taken on increasing urgency, as SmartCenters has put in a permit with the city and is preparing for the hearing process. Traffic engineers have been hired and the developer’s community relations team has jumped into action, going to local business associations in June 2007 and making a case for this so-called ‘regional shopping center’. The neighbors have also geared up for action, and have now amassed an 800-member action list of neighbors, businesses, education groups and activists who are kept up to date with frequent communications and a dedicated core of 20 volunteers who are fundraising, creating community awareness, and planning large-scale events to engage the neighborhood and the city in this discussion.”
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Posted by Al Norman on Tuesday, June 19 | 0 comments | Permalink
WASHINGTON SITE FIGHT: LOOKING AT NEXT STEPS
Tumwater residents consider next step in Wal-Mart plans [The Olympian]
TUMWATER — Residents say they are reviewing a final environmental report released Friday on a proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter before deciding on a next step.
“We’re paying attention, and we’re working with the community,” said Sherry Buckner, a leader of Tumwater Liveable Community, a citizens group that opposes the project. “We’re also communicating with other organizations that have concerns about Wal-Mart.”
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Posted by Beth Gostanian on Monday, June 18 | 0 comments | Permalink
Hercules, CA. Court Overturns City’s Eminent Domain Against Wal-Mart
Eminent domain is a powerful tool. The municipal police power that allows a community to take property for a public purpose, has been a controversial move---whether used to promote development, or to stop it. In more cases than not, cities and towns have used eminent domain powers to promote a big box store, but in a few cases, the method been used to stop development. On December 2, 2006, Sprawl-Busters reported that the city council in Hercules, California had voted to use eminent domain powers to acquire a parcel of land owned by Wal-Mart. Residents opposed to Wal-Mart applauded the move, but the retailer’s response at the time was, “Eminent domain is not supposed to be used as a popularity contest.” The city ruled that Wal-Mart’s property was economically “blighted” because of the lack of activity there. The city said Wal-Mart’s plans to build a supercenter did not conform to a 64,000 s.f. store size limit at the so-called Bayside Marketplace. In late 2005, Wal-Mart purchased the Bayside Marketplace to build a superstore, but this set off a public explosion of opposition from residents who argued that the project clashed with Hercules’ pedestrian-oriented development goals. In September, 2006, the city reaffirmed the Hercules Redevelopment Agency’s authority to invoke eminent domain in a part of the city known as “the Dynamite Area,” and extended this power for 12 years. But Wal-Mart argued that the Hercules Redevelopment Authority’s power to invoke eminent domain in this case had expired. The city council argued that its action was a “resolution of necessity,” which allowed the Hercules Redevelopment Agency to initiate an eminent domain action without a further council vote within six months. The city would have paid Wal-Mart the fair market value for the property. Wal-Mart’s suit against Hercules was filed Nov. 7, 2006 in Contra Costa Superior Court in Martinez. This week, a Contra Costa judge invalidated the Hercules ordinance that was used to justify the city’s eminent domain action. The city charged that Wal-Mart had shown bad faith by filing application after application for a store that would exceed the size limit under a 2003 development agreement with the previous owner of the tract. The parcel remained fallow, leading to a finding of economic blight by the city. Wal-Mart’s most recent application last year was for a 99,000 s.f. store, shrunk from the 140,000 s.f. size of two earlier applications. The city says the size limit for the Dynamite Area parcel (named after a former dynamite plant there) is 64,000 s.f., but Wal-Mart says a 168,000 s.f. store is allowed on the roughly 17 acre parcel.
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Posted by Al Norman on Monday, June 18 | 0 comments | Permalink
CALIFORNIA SITE FIGHTS: UP AGAINST A GIANT
Wal-Mart proclaims ‘clear win’ in fight with Hercules [Contra Costa (Calif.) Times]
A Contra Costa judge, confirming her earlier tentative ruling, has invalidated a Hercules ordinance that underpinned the city’s effort to acquire by eminent domain a tract owned by retail giant Wal-Mart.
The ordinance, adopted by the City Council in September, sought to confirm the continued existence of the city’s eminent domain authority in the so-called Dynamite Project Area and extend it for another 12 years.Wal-Mart spokesman John Simley this week proclaimed “a clear win for the many thousands of customers who know Wal-Mart saves them money so they can live better” and said it would resume the process of applying to the city to build a store.
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Posted by Beth Gostanian on Monday, June 18 | 0 comments | Permalink
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