Residents in Springfield Township, Ohio are having a “close encounter” with a huge retailer — much closer than they want. Neighbors have formed a citizen’s group to fight off another Wal-Mart supercenter in their community. Here’s their report, as received by Sprawl-Busters this week: “A Wal-Mart supercenter is planned to be 187,577 s.f. with 926 parking Places. CESO is the developer. Unfortunately, the land they want is zoned light industrial, so no change needed there. The exact location is 9651 Hamilton Avenue, Mt. Healthy (Cincinnati), Ohio On the site now there are two buildings: Rinks Flea Market & Standard Publishing, both of whom sold out to Wal-Mart, and both of which will be demolished. But Wal-Mart is only owning up to buying Rinks. In late July, we found property stakes in our yard, and so did two other of our neighbors. The property of Standard Publishing does go into our fenced yards, but was to remain “untouched” by Standard Publishing and residents via a verbal agreement with the residents who lived here years ago. We went to a township meeting before Wal-Mart filed, and asked the trustees, who, of course, said they had no knowledge of anything. Previous to the meeting I contacted the Zoning director with numerous e-mails about the stakes. He told me it was being done for survey purposes, but wouldn’t say by whom. After that first response, he then stopped answering my e-mails until just before the next monthly meeting, which he advised we attend. We feel we have a unique “Hillside” region, which may soon fall to yet another unneeded, much less unwanted Wal-Mart. Currently we have no fewer than 2 Super Centers – 2 to 4 miles, 1 regular center (due to expand) – 3 to 4 miles, another regular center – 4 to 6 miles, another supercenter being built 6 to 8 miles, and the undisclosed to be proposed (soon) supercenter in our backyards, literally. Our group, Grayrick Greenspace is concerned with the loss of ecosystem habitat (flora & fauna), additional flooding, additional light and noise pollution and possibly loss of current property values. We reside in the “Westfork Flood District” and have to insure our properties accordingly. The land drops steeply to the stream, and their plan will require considerable earthmoving, probably with large retaining walls on the up-hill and down-hill edges. In the worst case, the backyard woods will become a massive wall and parking lot. We contacted the Hillside Trust here in Cincinnati, since behind our houses and close to the proposed Wal-Mart is a 40 or 50 grade slope (which may be the only thing saving us here). The Hillside Trust members attended the “Wal-Mart wants to meet the Residents Meeting” facilitated by the Township on Sept. 12, and suggested that Wal-Mart deed the hillside over to them so it could be put in trust. He also asked that Wal-Mart use “green” building practices, such as green roofs, etc. The developers shot that down saying that due to Cincinnati’s climate, as in the “thaw/freeze”, it wouldn’t be a good idea. Also, an engineer at CESO said that Wal-Mart always “meets or exceeds” all the codes/regulations. At our meeting with Wal-Mart and the residents on September 12, the company was represented by a young “PR Boy” whom we assume they had on hand to present a ‘sweet’ image. He never publicly addressed us, nor did he speak unless spoken to, and he didn’t have much to say. I asked him if it still took 2-years for part-time employee to get health care. He brightened and said they changed that requirement this year. So I asked him how long it took full-time employees to get health care, and he said he didn’t know. I told him that everybody knows their goal is to overtake Kroger. His response? He just asked me how many Kroger stores were in the area. I told him not as many as Wal-Mart, which has about 25 stores in a 25-mile radius. I grilled him like a cheese sandwich and really didn’t take away much from the meeting except personal satisfaction from venting frustration at him. We’ve contacted the community paper and have had two articles published. People are upset because Wal-Mart will be so close to our houses, and because of the increased traffic (which is already a huge burden), crime, the fact that we hate Wal-Mart and would never shop there anyway, and the fact that it is placed close to local schools. The fact is, Wal-Mart’s goal is total world domination.”
This group is going to need legal help and environmental experts to testify during the permit process. Land use cases are like court cases, and you have to present expert witnesses to make your points, just as the developer does. In this case, residents don’t have enough money to pay for legal help, and have not yet put in place a fund-raising plan to hire the help they will need. For local contacts in the “Grayrick Greenspace” group that is fighting this Wal-Mart, contact [email protected].