Euclidean, the area is zoned for development. We have a Master plan that's been in place for years. As long as the proposed development conforms with the Master plan, it will be welcomed and approved. Walmart doesn't want to have to conform, they want special treatment, an exception, to build a store that is larger than the plan allows. The plan allows 150,000 sq ft., they are welcome build a store that size, but no, Walmart wants to build 350,000 sq ft. They knew that when they bought the property. Why should they get special treatment? Because they're Walmart?
Well if the plan is really that good they want to stick to it, it's still a loss for the city from my angle. The part I bolded is to emphasize that it's Wal Mart and another developer, and it sounds like to me they just want to put several business together in the same area. I am at a loss as to what's so bad about that.
The 350k square feet from my understanding of the article is not just for the Wal Mart but also the other development that they want to go with it. We're talking about an area smaller than 600x600 square feet, or a square roughly 2 football fields long on each side, which is really not that much at all when you're talking about a commercial property. I am making an assumption here that developer wants to build commercial space on the apron of the Wal Mart. If this other development includes 2 other businesses (which I bet it does, there's at least that many or more on the apron of every Wal Mart I've ever seen, my local store has ten small businesses on its outlying lots), that'd be 3 businesses with less than the town's allotment for space each, if you wanted to think of it that way.
I also sincerely question how a 150k square foot allotment works. That'd be a square smaller than 400 feet on a side. As I said before, the small business I worked for years ago had a facility bigger than that, so I wonder just exactly what they're hoping to build up there. I realize you can still build a lot on a lot that size, but that also excludes a lot of potentially good stuff.
What I'm reading in here is that Wal Mart may have been dumb for going ahead and buying the land, but my gut tells me if it were any company but Wal Mart requesting the very exception they are asking for (which is reasonable when you look at the 350k square feet as possibly room for several businesses and not just the Wal Mart) they would have looked at the numbers and probably said "Sure go ahead." I have a feeling that's probably what's going to happen anyway, once the council gets them some Wal Mart money or some kind of concessions they probably wouldn't ask of anyone else because they know Wal Mart has deep pockets.
Zoning rules in every city everywhere are broken all the time by all sorts of people for good reasons. If I lived in your town I'd just point out that if pressed, Wal Mart will just eventually sell the property after several years has passed and it's worth a lot more. Heck, around here, they'd probably realize they can buy a piece of property the same size as the one they're taking a bath on for a fifth of the amount if it was just another 5-15 miles out of town, build it there, and then watch the city grow in the direction of the Wal Mart over the next 3 or 4 years (making the values of the homes and properties that aren't near the Wal Mart not increase nearly so much the way), leaving long time residents jawing about how this bustling new neighborhood used to be out in the sticks not too long ago.
I just don't see how Wal Mart is bullying anyone or asking for anything someone else might not ask for. They are asking for something that doesn't sound crazy to me, and I think what the city gets in exchange for that concession is probably going to be worth it. Now if the city runs the numbers and has reason to believe it's a losing proposition, okay yeah tell Wal Mart no thanks. I just highly, highly doubt that the numbers will say that.
