Submit a Wal-Mart plan to local officials, and then stand back. That seems to be the reality facing the giant retailer these days. Dozens of Wal-Mart superstore plans are running into stiff oppposition, and this week’s confrontation in Prescott Valley, Arizona was no exception. According to the Daily Courier newspaper, when Wal-Mart officials met with local planning and zoning officials at a “work-study meeting”, local residents gave them a lot to study. The 57 acre parcel Wal-Mart wants near the intersection of Florentine Road and Glasford Hill, is not properly zoned. The land also will have to be annexed into the town. The Courier quoted on local residents opposed to Wal-Mart as saying, “We don’t want it rezoned and we don’t want them in. They threaten the jobs of all the small stores here… They do not pay their employees enough to make a living, so we end up paying as taxpayers.” The area already has a Wal-Mart roughly six miles away. The economic development manager for the town admitted at the hearing, “I have been talking to Wal-Mart for a couple of years and it is no secret. I think they are a ways off from a deal here. I do not think there is anything imminent. It is good that people are taking an interest.”
Residents in Prescott Valley plan to take an interest, for sure, in all future hearings on this project. Because the land needs rezoning, Wal-Mart can expect a long haul in this community. Rezoning is not a developer’s right. It must meet the local criteria for rezoning, and be compatible with the town’s comprehensive plan. Don’t look for a Wal-Mart supercenter ribbon-cutting in Prescott Valley anytime soon.
