Wal-Mart, which likes to portray itself as a good neighbor, has taken another city to court for denying the retailer a superstore. In this case, the outcome may hinge on a definition. Wal-Mart contends it is a “variety store” and thus met the city’s zoning code, while city officials say the retailer is a “department store” and did not fit into the zoning. According to the Lawrence, Kansas Journal-World, Wal-Mart’s legal appeal has heated up the Douglas County district courtroom. Wal-Mart attorneys argued that the city commissioners ignored expert opinions from their own staff when they turned down the retailer’s plans to build a superstore on the northwest side of the city. Wal-Mart is seeking to overturn a city decision in 2003 that denied Wal-Mart a building permit. Two lawyers scuffled in the court, one of whom was a Wal-Mart lawyer, who was offended by the suggestion that the retailer had been less than forthright in dealing with City Hall. Wal-Mart argued that the city had superseded the authority of its Planning Director and Neighborhood Resources Director. Wal-Mart claims city officials denied the permit for political reasons. “The City Commission decided it just didn’t want a Wal-Mart,” the retailer’s lawyer said. “Wal-Mart saw that there was a game being played here. It is time for the gamesmanship to end.” The city responded by saying that Wal-Mart had the chance to convince the zoning board that they were a variety store rather than a department store. The city pointed out that Wal-Mart, in its own annual report, referred to itself as a department store company. “They never presented any evidence that they were anything other than a department store,” the city said. “The evidence is that Wal-Mart is and has been the world’s largest department store.”
The operating principle here seems to be ‘what you can’t get by regulation, try to get by litigation.’ The city says it has spent nearly a quarter of a million dollars on three lawsuits related to this piece of property. Lawrence, by the way, already has a Wal-Mart store, which the company is trying to expand into a superstore. After the city said no to the supercenter on the northwest side of town, instead of being a good neighbor and respecting the city’s ruling, Wal-Mart headed to court. I doubt the city council in Lawrence considers Wal-Mart a good corporate citizen, and the city’s taxpayers are paying to defend their city against Wal-Mart’s expansion plans. For earlier stories on this subject, search Newsflash by “Lawrence.”
