The score in St. Petersburg, Florida is Citizens 1, Wal-Mart 0. This week the city’s Environmental Development Commission, after nearly 10 hours of debate, voted 5-2 to deny the retailers application for a special exception and site plan approval for a 163,250 s.f. superstore on 27 acres off Gandy Boulevard. The board said traffic concerns and environmental issues led to the denial, which can now be appealed to the City Council. Wal-Mart indicated it will try to change its site plan to deal with the traffic issues. The company already offered to spend $5 million on so-called traffic “improvements.” But residents also raised concern over destruction of wetlands at the site, and objected to the company’s plans to “replicate” the lost wetlands elsewhere. “I’m just not comfortable at this point approving such an intense use when there are so many outstanding issues,” one Commissioner was quoted as saying in the Tampa Tribune. “It’s not about trying to stop this horrible company or stop development on that site,” one resident said. “This project just doesn’t fit on this site.”
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