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Having considered in previous articles the low pricing advantages of shopping at a Wal-Mart and the offsetting adverse impacts that allow for such cost cutting advantages, the public should be made aware of Wal-Mart’s impact to the community regarding traffic,the environment, etc.
Wal-Mart rarely makes public announcements that they intend to build in your neighborhood. They work behind the scenes using a developer to covertly negotiate land purchase options and to approach the municipal Boards for the purpose of getting zoning and site plan approvals. Why is that? As such an admired organization and heavily shopped and prosperous retail marketer, why the backdoor approach? Why are so many communities fighting against a Wal-Mart coming into their area, and becoming more successful in doing so now?
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| Wal-Mart |
As is happening throughout the country, western New York politicos, residents, and coalition groups are actively involved in keeping Wal-Mart out of their community not only for the adverse impacts listed in the last editorial, but also for the impacts associated with traffic, overburdening the infrastructure, noise, air & water pollution, and property valuation / aesthetic / neighborhood character diminishment.
Too often property rezoning is required to accommodate the scope and size for Wal-Mart needs. Residents who were promised that land adjacent to them would remain for residential use suddenly find they have a 500+ ft commercial building sitting in their back yards. Rezoning of land is not a right, but a discretionary act on the part of municipal boards. Towns are under no obligation to any developer to rezone land. And, any rezoning should be consistent with the area’s Comprehensive Plan. At the time of the start of the Transit / William project (1999), the rezone did not fit with the comprehensive plan then in place, but the project rezone was approved based on the change that was proposed and approved in 2003.
The Transit / William project was opposed and litigation instated long before the developer or town would make known who the major tenant on site would be. The project was opposed by neighboring residents and support groups in the community because of the impacts associated with the project and the developer’ and Town’s refusal to acknowledge and mitigate them. The Town Board twice declared there were no significant impacts associated with the project.
An Appeals Court later declared that they had acted in an arbitrary and capricious manner and dictated the Town order the developer to create a Supplementary Draft Environmental Study (SDEIS) whereby the impacts associated with the project would be identified and mitigated. Had the developer and town done the right thing by following State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) requirements, Wal-Mart
Would have been up and running 4 years ago. There would have been no grounds for litigation.
Representatives of the resident coalition group (CARS) met with a Town Board council member (1999) in an attempt to negotiate a compromise before pursuing litigation. The group requested several conditions be instated and the litigation would be dropped. The Town Board council member agreed that the conditions were reasonable and thought they would be accepted by the developer. The developer refused to accept the condition that the retail store would not be, or become, a 24/7 supercenter.
The negotiation fell through. Since then the building has gotten bigger (152,000 sq-ft, more parking spaces and an outdoor sales area have been added, and the Zoning Board of Appeals granted several variances. When the coalition group requested the placing of the Wal-Mart up front, along Transit Road, their request fell on deft ears. Wal-Mart does not negotiate, they dictate.
Many communities are disallowing big boxes to come into their community or are enacting “dimensional limits” in their zoning codes. It is important that when such limits are passed, that the city or town explain the intent of the by-law in terms of its land use goals: such as maintaining the scale of the existing built environment, or preventing undue traffic congestion, or maintaining the character of the town, etc. Several communities have introduced and approved resolutions that would place a 90,000 sq-ft cap on retail building size.
You can’t beat Wal-Mart’s price, but the lower prices exact a heavy price on their workers, their suppliers, competing businesses, and the community as a whole. As such, it behooves supporters and opponents alike to become informed and to understand and respect each other’s position. It is everyone’s constitutional right to have and voice differing opinions.
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