We’ve been following the battle of Spring Hill, Florida vs. Wal-Mart for
just about two years now. On December 28, 1999, we presented the story of
Wal-Mart’s efforts to locate a superstore near the Weeki Wacheee Preserve,
an important open space natural resource for the city of Spring Hill. Then
on June 14, 2001 we updated newsflash to say that Wal-Mart was still trying
to spring their superstore onto Spring Hill, but it was still an up-Hill
battle there. Our most recent communication from sprawl-busters in Spring
Hill suggests that a citizen’s group called the Coalition Against Urban
Sprawl Efforts (CAUSE) has been formed, and has hired an attorney. The
group is holding an art sale on December 14 to raise money for their legal
defense. Wal-Mart has recently submitted its 4th. set of revised plans,
which will go before the Planning and Development Department on December
20th. Can you imagine Wal-Mart having an art sale to raise money to present
their case to Spring Hill officials? The playing field is so uneven,
citizens have to scrape money together to mount a defense, while Wal-Mart
spends hundreds of thousands of dollars to present and re-present their
superstore sprawl to communities.
If you’d like to help out the residents of Spring Hill with their legal or
intervention bills, contact Linda Prescott at 352-686-6870, or email her at [email protected]
