Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Amidst a dramatic protest and opposition from locals the city agreed to the submission of a new development plan for a Wal-Mart store at the northwest corner of Sixth Street and Wakarusa Drive on Tuesday night.
The commission’s discussion of the development included participation by more than 20 members of the public and a theatrical demonstration by opponents.
Mayor Sue Hack said the commission expected a new plan.
“It is our assumption and our hope that an additional plan would be submitted,” she said.
Angie Stoner, Wal-Mart spokesperson, said Wal-Mart had not yet decided whether to submit a new plan for a development at Sixth and Wakarusa, but that a decision would be made in a matter of days.
pullquote
You’re wasting our money. Those tax dollars could go to a lot of different issues.
-Scott Henderson, former zoning appeals board member
The commission held the discussion after agreeing to a delay in a lawsuit that Wal-Mart had filed against the city for denying its development plans. The commission denied Wal-Mart’s last plans in October 2006 by a 3-2 vote. Since then, new commissioners Rob Chestnut and Mike Dever have replaced two of the commissioners who voted against that proposal.
Most members of the public spoke against the Wal-Mart proposal. But Scott Henderson, a former zoning appeals board member, said his board had been unfair in denying Wal-Mart a building permit. He said he wanted the city to settle the lawsuit with Wal-Mart and move on to avoid the cost of further legal fees.
“You’re wasting our money,” Henderson said. “Those tax dollars could go to a lot of different issues.”
Opponents of the Wal-Mart proposal raised concerns about Lawrence’s retail supply outstripping its retail demand, “big box” national chains taking money away from locally owned businesses, and the possible creation of traffic problems that could be compounded by inexperienced teenage drivers coming from nearby Free State High School, also near Sixth and Wakarusa.
Kirk McClure, professor of urban planning, spoke about a study he had conducted about Lawrence’s retail market.
McClure said that the city’s retail supply had grown at more than three times the rate of the city’s demand since 1995.
“We need to come to fairly clear decisions about whether or not the market can absorb the space that is being built,” he said.
An unusual demonstration took place while Richard Heckler, Lawrence resident, spoke to the commission about his view that Wal-Mart and other “big box” retailers did not attract money to the city’s economy.
Several attendees wearing T-shirts with phrases like “locally owned hardware store” stood up and began passing around oversized dollar bills.
Meanwhile, a woman wearing a hat, sunglasses and a sign that said “Uncle Sam Walton” — referring to the founder of Wal-Mart — walked around the commission room, snatching the bills from the people representing the “locally owned” businesses and stuffing the bills into a plastic bag.
This prompted Hack to ask the woman to sit down because of the noise she was creating.
— Edited by Natalie Johnson
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