The Battle of New Orleans against Wal-Mart took another turn this week, as a host of environmental and citizens groups once again went to court to keep the giant retailer from opening a huge store in the historic Lower Garden District. According to the Times Picayune, five neighborhood and preservation groups have petitioned the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals to stop all construction at the site. The developer has begun construction of housing at the St. Thomas site — and the 199,000 s.f. Wal-Mart superstore as well. Five groups — Smart Growth for Louisiana, the Coliseum Square Association, the Louisiana Landmarks Society, the Historic Magazine Row Association and the Urban Conservancy — asked the 5th Circuit to issue an injunction stopping construction while the court considers the groups’ appeal of District Judge Kurt Engelhardt’s dismissal of their 2002 suit. The citizen’s groups have charged that the Housing Authority of New Orleans and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development violated the National Environmental Policy Act, National Historic Preservation Act when they approved for the St. Thomas and Wal-Mart projects. The Lower Garden District is on the National Register of Historic Places, triggering certain requirements for any projects involving federal money. Similar lawsuits were filed in state courts — but those challenges were rejected by the state courts. Bill Borah, president of Smart Growth for Louisiana, told the newspaper that stopping work on the project is necessary “to prevent irreparable harm to the immediate and surrounding national historic districts”. The preservation groups have five lawyers working on the appeal. One of the lawyers told the Times Picayune: . “It is ludicrous to think that the traffic congestion alone generated by this Wal-Mart’s sprawl development, with surface parking for 825 cars along a narrow two-lane road in an urban historic district, will not have a significant impact on the surrounding environment.”
For earlier stories on this conflict, search Newflash by the words “New Orleans.” For local contacts, mail [email protected].
