Most Walmart Neighbors Not Impressed With Plan
Patch provided live coverage of Wednesday night's neighborhood meeting regarding plans for the controversial Walmart in Caledonia. Here's the synopsis. We'll have a more complete story Thursday morning.
Walmart representatives met with residents Wednesday night to get input on plans for a new 24-hour general merchandise store on the southeast corner of 4 Mile and Green Bay roads.
You can replay our live blog archive to see what Walmart said, and what residents had to say back.
Or you can read our full story on the Walmart neighborhood meeting, and check out pictures we took of the hundreds who showed up.
KEEP ON KEEPING ON
4:04 pm on Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Love the picture, but this ain't a neighborhood market they are proposing!!! Try a supercenter.
Denise Lockwood
8:14 pm on Wednesday, October 17, 2012
I'll replace it with the stuff I took tonight. Thanks.
Heather in Caledonia
10:15 pm on Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Well, I was very disappointed with the behavior of many people who came. There were some speakers who offered some well thought out criticism and did so without being rude. Thank you for presenting your arguments well.
I'm not entirely in favor of this store going in at this location. I can understand people wanting to preserve a rural feel to Caledonia. I don't particularly think those streets can handle a lot more traffic (especially where N. Green Bay and Rapids intersect.) I would have liked to see less out-lots for lease and more green space instead. Overall, I would prefer them to take over the Kmart site.
I won't be going on Tuesday to the meeting where they present it to the board. I have my kids that evening and won't subject them to the behavior I'm sure will be going on before and after (maybe during?) the meeting. For those of you opposed to this, please keep in mind that your opinions are respected more when you present them as adults, not as threatening, barely controlled children.
San
10:37 am on Thursday, October 18, 2012
everyone should be civil. of course, it is easy to understand the emotional strain that people in the community are under when they feel like the quality of life and their community are threatened. clearly many people at the meeting felt that their home environment was being threatened and they reacted to that. maybe divisive influences such as walmart stir this up everywhere as we see that they frequently meet with such reactions in communities around the country. If our body is attacked by a cancerous growth, the immune system will go into full gear to try to stop it.
a quiet conservative
2:01 pm on Friday, October 19, 2012
If the Walmart had ended up out of State Rd 31 (vs North Green Bay Rd) the truck traffice would be alot more manageable then having them come down 4 Mile Rd at all hours. Also it would have had a smaller impact on the individuals that live near there (smaller number of homes and famliys in the radius of S.R. 31 & 4 Mile vs NGB & 4 Mile which has a larger amount of homes/apt buildings)
San
2:06 pm on Friday, October 19, 2012
there were numerous issues other than the traffic. First, big box stores tend to cost more than the tax revenue they provide in terms of services they need from the Village, so our taxes would have gone up. Second, they wanted to site it directly across the street from the Root River and this was a risk to the river, and all the wildlife and sportsmen who depend on the river with their pollution and parking lot runoff, third, the community there decided at the time of the long-range planning done for the land use plan, that the area should be developed over time as residential, fourth, because we are a bedroom community and most people commute out to work, we rely on fast access roads, and adding congestion to Highway 31 and 4 mile would have disrupted many people, fifth, 4 mile road itself is not set up to handle the vehicular traffic in EITHER location, sixth, most of the employees would have to commute from Racine (where the unemployment is) and there is no mass transit (to either location) in place. there were many more reasons. I am not sure we really need or want a walmart anywhere in Caledonia, nor does it fit with the wishes expressed by a large majority under the land use planning that set forth the vision for the community as embodied in a large majority of its households.
Caledonia Confused
5:07 pm on Friday, October 19, 2012
Fact Police. You would like the Kmart closed. It is a big box store that is costing the rural village.