Citizens in Titusville, Florida are battling a proposed Wal-Mart supercenter. Here is their report: “The Wal-Mart corporation is planning to build a new supercenter in the Titusville, Florida, area that is 4.7 miles from an existing supercenter. The location for this planned store is directly across the street from South Lake Elementary School. The streets in this area are neighborhood 2-lane roads, usually seeing only residential traffic and the twice daily starting and ending of school traffic. Additionally, the planned store would sit on land that is the primary recharge area for the city’s water wells. Paving the land will seriously reduce the amount of water available to the wells. Wal-Mart’s solution to this is using “pervious concrete,” a type of material advertised to allow water to pass through into the ground beneath, thus increasing the amount of water available for the wells. However, we have been told that it is very high maintennance and can also allow gas, oil, and other contaminents to pass through into the soil below, possibly contaminating the wells. Zoning of the planned site has been raised as an issue, but the land was administratively re-zoned in 1993 to high density commercial by a previous city council, limiting the current city council’s control of the matter. While members of the current city council have voiced their opposition to the planned store, they have also stated that there is little that they can do to prevent it, assuming that the Wal-Mart corporation meets all city and higher-level government requirements.
The city has requested that Wal-Mart meet with local residents to get their input into the planned store. This meeting is scheduled for June 21, 2004 in the north Titusville area.”
For further information on Titusville vs the Titan, go to the website of the North Brevard Beacon, http://www.nbbd.com/Beacon/, and look for the May 26,2004 issue (you may have to look in the “archives” for it). Look for the item named “Residents ready for Wal-Mart war”
