Local residents of Austin, Texas don’t want a Wal-Mart supercenter inside Austin City Limits. They filed this report of the on-going battle: “Endeavor Real Estate Group, based in Austin, is selling a portion of a 43-acre tract of land in the Barton Springs Recharge Zone to Wal-Mart for a new SuperCenter. Sited at the corner of Slaughter and MoPac, the SuperCenter is proposed at 51% impervious cover, over three times the amount allowed by the Save Our Springs Ordinance. The development would generate an estimated 13,800 vehicle trips per day over the most sensitive groundwater supply in Texas. Company principals have admitted that the water quality controls they’ve proposed on the property will inadequate to manage pollutants. The neighbors surrounding the proposed development are concerned about the increased traffic, noise pollution, light pollution, and water pollution. Because the only access to the development will be from Slaughter and Davis Lanes, all traffic destined for the shopping center will flow through the neighborhoods. There is already a Wal-Mart less than 4 miles away, and many worry that it will close once the new store is built, leaving yet another empty big-box retail building. Neighborhood associations and groups including Sendera, Circle C, the Villages of Western Oaks, Deer Park, Save Barton Creek Association, S.O.S Alliance, and others have formed the No-Aquifer-Big-Box Coalition to oppose this development.”
For more background on the battle to keep a Wal-Mart supercenter out of Austin’s acquifer, contact http://www.noaquiferbigbox.com/ or http://www.sosalliance.org
