Sprawl-busters in Fort Collins, CO report that both the Planning & Zoning Board, and the Fort Collins City Council have voted to deny a request for a special planned district for a 200,000 s.f. Wal-Mart in a proposed shopping center on the east side of the city. The developer then 1) sued the city and 2) gathered signatures to place an initiative on the city ballot to overturn the Council’s decision. The vote will take place in Fort Collins on April 6, 1999, and we will update you on the outcome of that vote.
Spurned developers, along with Wal-Mart and Home Depot, are turning to the ballot (see newsflash entries below) to try and win at the ballot box what they could not gain through the normal zoning process. They calculate that their vast financial resources can help win any election. It’s part of the growing corporate democracy movement.