Build it, they will come!!!!

Hey tansandy... There is one on hwy 11... I can give you directions if you need them.. Please tell me there are any TAX-PAYING caledonia residents in favor of this??? Do your research THERE ARE NO BENIFITS TO HAVING WALMART IN THE VILLAGE!! Increased tax base you say?? How about all the lost business of the surrounding family owned businesses who actually have a stake in our community... None of these businesses will be able to compete and they WILL fail.....how about your land use plan then??? what ideas do you have for the abandoned properties left behind in the wake of the walmart takeover... what about the property values in the surrounding area.. any ideas?? my property value has gone down over $30,000 in the past year... BIG NEWS FLASH!! Walmart doesn't care... Wake up!!

Tansandy- google " what it really costs when Walmart comes to town" educate yourself before you comment!!

Tansandy- google " what it really costs when Walmart comes to town" educate yourself before you comment!!

I like Wal-Mart, but not sure I wanna live by one.

3 issues seem to be part of this discussion and supposed "motion" passed by the PC on Jan 30th. One is the issue of our LUP in general. on Jan 12, 2012, the Coutts-formed Land Use Plan Management Committee, after 4 meetings and 8 mths, created a list of 10 areas and 8 concepts of our plan to re-evaluate. And then they did nothing. Not one meeting, no further discussion. Relative to any larger review of our LUP, that is the guide that has been sitting on the table for a year. Use it. 2nd, an issue of some inconsistencies. Ones that NO ONE can name, NO One seems to know the what/where/ how of, even after Coutts signed off on the County level Plan adoption in 2009. Guess no one really checked on the accuracy. 3rd, whatever the inconsistencies, relative to the WM proposal for those 2 lots, THERE IS NO INCONSISTENCY WITH THE DESIGNATED USE. If they were intended commercial, WM would NOT have to ask for an amendment. The county and village level maps match. The table to which the village attorney referred to as the guide for determining allowed development, which allows for commercial, also stated under constraints to "look at detailed neighborhood plans as a guide". There is not one shred of support for this type of development within the VCM description and neighborhood plan. The PC needs to be TRANSPARENT in their plans of recommendations to the board and be mindful that NOTHING NEEDS to change and CANNOT change without public input.

Brian, please do not put words in my mouth. I never said anything about a conspiracy. I disagree with your assertion that the entire concept for that area is null and void. Meaningful ideas and input went into the vision for that area, whether the train is part of it or not. I do care about the inconsistencies because to date no one will or can identify them, who discovered them and what they are. And they seem to be a major point of discussion. The county plan is what WM is targeting for amendment. The village adopted it as our plan. The Village should dictate any change. But we most certainly need the assistance of a Planning Dept. to do so. We don't have those experts on the Village staff. I never asserted the LUP is perfect. I pointed out our Village staff created a list of issues last year. It most definitely recognized the issues you brought up. So does this Village piece-meal a review of our Plan or thoroughly as a whole, to address the issue of commercial development? And what do they recommend doing with the current request on the table? That is the issue on the agenda. I continue to assert the County level plan map has the designated use for those parcels correctly defined. It aligns with the village level neighborhood plan. The WM proposal is not compatible with the LUP, surrounding use and will adversely affect the surrounding property values. Deny the request, move on to review of the LUP and WM can return with a new proposal in a better spot.

@ "Tansandy"

1) "And that doom and gloom card you like to play, is really getting worn out.”

The "doom and gloom card" you so criticize is almost as worn out as your "build it, I/they will come" phrase. How many times have you posted this phrase here on the Patch blogs, a dozen times? Especially when the phrase amounts to nothing more than empty, vitriolic rhetoric based purely on spite. Please remind us again that you are uniquely qualified to post such vitriol due to the fact that you, yourself, quit a Village committee here in Caledonia instead of trying to achieve change from the very planning you deem unreasonable.

2) Look around all the Walmarts across the country, and you will see business thriving alongside."

Look no further than the outlots of the Mount Pleasant Walmart store to see two high-interest, “pay day” type loan stores occupying such outlots, as well as at least one vacant property therein. How would such high interest loan stores and vacancies benefit Caledonia?

Someone has two monickers of "I hate tansandy?" Wow. Some of you guys are a real trip. lol.

Brian:

Walmart will own the outlots at the 4m/NGR location and lease it to tenants. It is well known that Walmart chooses only those tenants that do not compete with their Walmart store. The 4m/NGBR location will not likely accommodate the establishments the size of Menards, Petco or Aldi's on those outlots (making them moot) - only smaller establishments that do not compete with Walmart itself.

Smaller properties, such as those surrounding the Wendy's by the highway 11 Walmart, are difficult to lease when limited to establishments that are not allowed to compete with Walmart itself. Hence the vacancies and lower echelon tenants, such as high interest loan stores. While other, less offensive tenants have existed there, those tenants have been short-lived. We'll see how long the mattress store lasts..........

Rolling Back Property Tax Payments: How Wal-Mart Short-Changes Schools and other Public Services by Challenging Its Property Tax Assessments by Philip Mattera, Karla Walter, Julie Farb Blain and Colleen Ruddick, Good Jobs First, October 2007

This first-ever investigation of Wal-Mart’s local property tax records finds that the retail giant systematically seeks to minimize its payment of taxes that support public schools and other vital local government services.

Hidden Cost of Wal-Mart Jobs – by UC Berkeley’s Institute for Industrial Relations, August 2004
California taxpayers are spending $86 million a year providing healthcare and other public assistance to the state’s 44,000 Wal-Mart employees, according to this study. The average Wal-Mart worker requires $730 in taxpayer-funded healthcare and $1,222 in other forms of assistance, such as food stamps and subsidized housing. Even compared to other retailers, Wal-Mart imposes an especially large burden on taxpayers. Wal-Mart workers earn 31 percent less than the average for workers at large retail companies and require 39 percent more in public assistance. The study estimates that if competing supermarkets and other large retailers adopt Wal-Mart’s wage and benefit levels, it will cost California’s taxpayers an additional $410 million a year in public assistance.

A study loses credibility if performed by UC Berkley.