Sprawl-Busters reported in April of 2005 that residents in Lockport, Illinois had taken their city to court fighting a Wal-Mart supercenter in their community. The Chicago Sun Times reports that a Will County judge is expected to rule on the case this week. The lawsuit, filed last April, charges that the city violated its planning and zoning regulations in approving the rezoning of 23 acres for a 203,000-square-foot Wal-Mart. The store would be near three residential subdivisions and the local High School. A group called Responsible Economic Growth Around Lockport (REGAL) believes the supercenter will lower the value of nearby homes and cause serious traffic problems. The lawsuit has halted any construction work on the project, so the citizens have already succeeded in holding the giant retailer in limbo for nearly a year. Attorney Mark Daniel representing REGAL, argued that the rezoning of the property was illegal and that the store is inappropriate for the area.
The citizen’s lawsuit has cost Wal-Mart roughly $100 million in lost sales. That’s how much a supercenter of that size would have generated. For an earlier story on Lockport, search Newsflash by the name of the city.
