Discussion of second Wal-Mart revisited

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

A new city commission means a new round of discussion on the potential construction of a second Lawrence Wal-Mart store at Sixth Street and Wakarusa Drive.

A lawsuit challenging the city’s denial of a building permit for the Wal-Mart was scheduled to go to court Monday, but a Douglas County district judge last week delayed the trial until Sept. 10 at the request of the city, Wal-Mart and the site’s developers.

The city requested the delay so the new city commission could discuss the Wal-Mart issue for the first time at its May 1 meeting.

“We’ve got a new commission, two new commissioners,” said mayor Sue Hack. “This was an opportunity to bring them up to speed.”

New commissioners Mike Dever and Rob Chestnut replaced Mike Rundle and David Schauner, two of the commissioners who voted against the most recent Wal-Mart building proposal in a 3-2 decision. The only remaining commissioner who rejected that plan is Dennis “Boog” Highberger. Hack and commissioner Mike Amyx voted for the plan.

Highberger said he opposed the delay of the trial because the former commission had already made a decision about the Wal-Mart issue.

Hack said the previous commission rejected the last Wal-Mart proposal because of concerns with the increase of traffic in the area and the increase in retail businesses citywide.

“My feeling was that those issues had been addressed in a compromise plan,” Hack said.

Angie Stoner, Wal-Mart spokesperson, said Wal-Mart would begin new discussions with the city at the May 1 meeting “to possibly start discussing future plans for the project.”

Hack said the May 1 discussion would not involve any specific development plans, but instead would serve as an opportunity for the new commissioners to participate in their first discussion of the issue. She said members of all parties involved, including neighbors of the property and other members of the public, were invited to make comments.

The lawsuit between Wal-Mart and the city dates back to 2003. The building site’s developers first proposed a Wal-Mart store in 2002.

Kansan staff writer Matt Erickson can be contacted at merickson@kansan.com.

— Edited by Darla Slipke

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