Even before it knows the fate of plans for a proposed Neighborhood Market in center city, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) is turning dirt on another store in east Springfield where residents have long opposed its 24-hour brand of business.
Chris Straw, director of the city’s department of building development services, said Wal-Mart was recently granted a land disturbance permit for site preparations before construction begins at 3720 E. Sunshine St.
Wal-Mart spokeswoman Erica Jones said the planned 41,000-square-foot Neighborhood Market, which would be the city’s fifth, is expected to open in early 2015. Construction is likely to begin in the next couple of months, she said.
The plans include a restriction on Wal-Mart’s hours of operation, due to a 2009 city ordinance. The commercial-zoned property immediately adjacent to one of Springfield’s two Sam’s Club stores cannot operate between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., and Jones said the Bentonville, Ark.-based mega-retailer does not intend to fight the ordinance.
Meanwhile, a zoning lawsuit is holding up Wal-Mart’s plans for a center city Neighborhood Market at the southwest corner of Grand Street and Campbell Avenue.
“We’re still awaiting the court’s decision,” Jones said via email.
The appeal for Grand and CampbellThe Missouri Southern District Court of Appeals heard oral arguments June 17 in a referendum petition case that centers on whether voters should be able to send zoning issues to the ballot box.
The case stems from a ruling in a lawsuit brought against the city of Springfield last year by Life 360 Church, which was selling its property at Grand and Campbell to Wal-Mart. The retailer helped secure a split decision in February 2013 to rezone the church site and several adjoining residential properties to a general retail district.
The petition sought to overturn council’s decision to rezone the 6 acres at 444 W. Grand St. and 427–515 W. Normal St. After groups opposed to the Neighborhood Market store near downtown entered the petition, council in May 2013 did not reverse the zoning decision and opted to put the matter on the Aug. 6 ballot. But the vote was put on hold following the lawsuit by Life 360 Church/Calvary Temple and Robert and Jennifer Buchanan.
In July, petitioners Lynn Myers and Charles Booth requested to intervene in the case against the city because the city was conceding that the church could be harmed if the issue went before voters.
On July 23, Missouri circuit court Judge Gerald McBeth, of Nevada, ruled the referendum petition would not head to a public vote, four days after he disallowed residents, including Myers and Booth, from intervening in the case. That paved the way for an appeal, which was filed in August in the state Court of Appeals.
At issue in the appeal is whether the rights of Myers, Booth and other petitioners would be harmed if the city charter is not followed and the referendum is not allowed to move to the ballot.
During the hearing, attorney Bryan Wade, who is representing plaintiffs Myers and Booth in the appeals case, said City Council was right to forward the issue to voters.
“The elected officials in this case did exactly what they should have done. The city clerk certified the petition. The city clerk then presented it to City Council. The City Council then unanimously voted that the petition should go to a vote of the people. What happened here was that the legal system – our system – broke down,” said Wade, a Springfield real estate and development attorney with Husch Blackwell LLP. “It is inherently unfair to proceed without at least giving us a voice.”
Springfield City Attorney Dan Wichmer said the key issue before the court is whether the petitioners had the right to intervene in the case. Because their properties were between a half-mile and four miles away from the zoning area, Wichmer said the judge properly ruled the petitioners had no right to become involved in the lawsuit. City charter indicates affected properties have to be within 180 feet.
From the city’s perspective, Chapter 89 of state statutes spells out that zoning issues are not subject to the referendum petition process.
“We have to follow state zoning,” Wichmer said to the panel of three judges, pointing to a 2010 Missouri Supreme Court ruling that put the brakes on the city’s procedures for enforcing its red-light camera ordinance. “One thing I’ve learned from this court in the city versus Bell – and what other attorneys have learned in the case – is that if there is a state law that governs a procedure, you follow state law.”
After the hearing, Wichmer said he expected the judges to rule on the appeals case in the next 45 to 60 days.
Sunshine storeSpringfield Planning and Development Director Ralph Rognstad said Wal-Mart has had business hours restricted on the 14-acre lot since 2009, when council members approved vacating a right-of-way for a street that was never built.
He said Wal-Mart requested Stonebrae Avenue not be built to leave open the possibility of building a store there.
Rognstad said neighbors of the Wal-Mart-owned property have opposed Supercenter plans on the site the last two decades. The reason: Loud trucks and late-night visitors didn’t fit with the surrounding communities.
To make future development possible, Rognstad said the city added the restriction of operating hours.
To make the plans more palatable, Wal-Mart offered $195,000 toward the realignment and construction of nearby Bedford Avenue at the Sunshine intersection.
In recent years, Wal-Mart has grown its roughly 40,000-square-foot Neighborhood Market concept in the area by opening four stores in Springfield since 2012. The roughly $1.6 million stores have collectively added about 360 jobs to the area.
In nearby Sparta, Mayor Mike Younker said consultants have been in contact with the city since its board of aldermen on June 10 approved the annexation of 2.28 acres of land slated for a 12,000-square-foot Wal-Mart Express. Younker said the city already has located water and sewer lines for the store – one of up to 300 small-scale retail outlets Wal-Mart is planning to build systemwide through January. Across Christian County in Clever, City Clerk Kristy Stewart said plans for another Wal-Mart Express go before council for approval on June 24.
Wal-Mart’s Jones declined to say by press time how many small-scale stores are planned for the Springfield area.
Wal-Mart operates 11 stores in Springfield, with plans for two more Neighborhood Markets in the works.[[In-content Ad]]
