Skip to content
  • (413) 834-4284
  • info@sprawl-busters.com
  • 21 Grinnell St, Greenfield, Massachusetts
Sprawl-busters
  • Home
  • About
  • Resources
    • Links
    • Books
    • Movies
    • Home Towns, Not Home Depot
    • The Case Against Sprawl
  • Victories
  • Blog
    • Share Your Battle
  • Contact
  • Home
  • About
  • Resources
    • Links
    • Books
    • Movies
    • Home Towns, Not Home Depot
    • The Case Against Sprawl
  • Victories
  • Blog
    • Share Your Battle
  • Contact
  • Uncategorized

Citizen Opposition Turns Vote Against Lowe’s

  • Al Norman
  • July 16, 2004
  • No Comments

Residents in Green Township, Ohio have at least temporarily sidestepped a big box planned for their community. According to the Cincinnati Enquirer this week, a 150,000-square-foot Lowe’s Home Improvement center on Harrison Pike may get hammered by county officials. The Hamilton County commissioners said during a public hearing this week that they would “likely deny” a request from developers to rezone 18 acres for the Lowe’s store. The County Commissioners are expected to take their final vote on the proposal on August 4th. The Commissioner’s decision comes on the heels of a 2-2 vote in June by the county’s Rural Zoning Commission, which amounted to a denial of the project. To overturn the denial by the Zoning Commission, the County Commissioners would need to muster a unanimous vote — something which Lowe’s cannot buy. The reason? Citizen opposition rung up “no sale” on the project. “There has been a very strong showing (of opposition) from residents,” one Commissioner told the newspaper. “I feel that it is their community and they have the right to decide what kind of community they want.” Green residents said the development, which is located near several subdivisions, is too big for the area. The same residents 4 years ago defeated an effort to rezone the same property for a store that was never identified. “This project is totally out of scale with the surrounding area,” one resident explained. According to the newspaper, companies like Wal-Mart, Bigg’s and Lowe’s “have been struggling to get a foothold.” But not to worry about the Big Company: Wal-Mart is scattering plenty of seeds. They have nine supercenters proposed or under construction in Greater Cincinnati. Two towns, Harrison and Milford, are fighting Wal-Mart. The paper quotes Al Norman of Sprawl-Busters as saying, “The companies are pushing harder and communities are pushing harder back,” Norman said. “Nobody wants to live next to these supercenters. They are the retail equivalent of a nuclear power plant.” The landowner, who has lost big box proposals twice now, told the Enquirer, “We have a right to develop this land. Because a small number of residents have made a lot of noise, we are being denied our rights as property owners.”

Developers and landowners trying to squeeze every ounce of profit off their land always say they are being thwarted by a vocal minority of residents. Even when Wal-Mart is defeated at the polls by 60% of the voters, they keep saying a minority pushed them over. In Green township, this landowner dropped his plans for a rezoning after local residents in 2000 collected enough signatures to put the rezoning on a referendum. Citizens have the right to object to projects that are too big, and in the wrong location. In this case, their elected officials recognized that right. The landowners still have the right to develop their land, but not by placing a building three times the size of a football field next to a residential subdivision. As the county Commissioner said of the citizen’s group: “it is their community and they have the right to decide what kind of community they want.”

Like this article?

Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter
Share on Linkdin
Share on Pinterest
Picture of Al Norman

Al Norman

Al Norman first achieved national attention in October of 1993 when he successfully stopped Wal-Mart from locating in his hometown of Greenfield, Massachusetts. Almost 3 decades later they is still not Wal-Mart in Greenfield. Norman has appeared on 60 Minutes, was featured in three films, wrote 3 books about Wal-Mart, and gained widespread media attention from the Wall Street Journal to Fortune magazine. Al has traveled throughout the U.S., Barbados, Puerto Rico, Ireland, and Japan, helping dozens of local coalitions fight off unwanted sprawl development. 60 Minutes called Al “the guru of the anti-Wal-Mart movement.”

Leave a comment

Find Us

  • 21 Grinnell St, Greenfield, MA
  • (413) 834-4284
  • info@sprawl-busters.com

Helpful Links

  • Terms
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy

Recent Posts

Facebook testing encrypted chat backups – CNBC

September 14, 2022

Facebook is shutting down its live shopping feature on October 1 – TechCrunch

September 14, 2022

Introducing Home and Feeds on Facebook – Facebook

September 14, 2022

Facebook to allow up to five profiles tied to one account – Reuters

September 14, 2022

Facebook tells managers to identify low performers in memo – The Washington Post

September 14, 2022

Meta is dumping Facebook logins as its metaverse ID system – TechCrunch

September 14, 2022

Introducing Features to Quickly Find and Connect with Facebook Groups – Facebook

September 14, 2022

Facebook plans ‘discovery engine’ feed change to compete with TikTok – The Verge

September 14, 2022

Wow, Facebook really knows how to give someone a send-off! – TechCrunch

September 14, 2022

Here’s What You Need to Know About Our Updated Privacy Policy and Terms of Service – Facebook

September 14, 2022

Recent Tweets

Ⓒ 2020 - All Rights Are Reserved

Design and Development by Just Peachy Web Design

Download Our Free Guide