This is a fascinating story capturing the power retail giants like Wal*Mart wield over small towns.
Wal*Mart recently built a massive superstore in Chelan, Washington despite legal questions surrounding the permitting and zoning of the mega, big box giant. Chelan, a small charming mountain community about 4 hours northeast of Seattle, serves as a gateway to the North Cascades National Park area as well as the Alpine Lakes Wilderness Area. The area is one of the larger quaint little towns that make up a region known as the Okanogan.
When Wal*Mart built the super store, they knowingly violated local zoning provisions and by railroading the local permitting process, they escalated their construction, while defending the project in court. After local residents took the company to courts and prevailed, Wal*Mart acted as if it was above such decisions.
In order to trump the decision against their clearly impermissible 170,000 square foot building, the company took several aggressive steps to overrule and squash the local community and thumb their nose as three seperate legal decisions.
First Wal*Mart hired 200 local residents to work in the new store.
Then the company stocked the store in half the time it normally takes...
Finally as the rulings were coming down against them directly from the courts, they pushed up their grand opening before the judges final rulings.
It ain't over yet. The judge has ruled everything about the store is illegal. It does not comply with local zoning, the permitting was done illegally, and because of these rulings, Wal*Mart may yet be forced to close and bulldoze the entire project. Still its staggering that a company could behave so arrogantly and try to circumvent local processes as well as rebel against the will of court order.
For more go here:
http://www.lcvca.org/251.html
No comments:
Post a Comment