Wal-Mart has lost another battle — this one in Biloxi, Mississippi, where a Circuit Judge has upheld the city’s rejection of a Wal-Mart rezoning petition. The Sun Herald newspaper reports this week that Wal-Mart has decided not to pursue an appeal of the Judge’s decision. Wal-Mart was trying to get Biloxi to rezone the President Broadwater Golf Course to commercial, so it could build a supercenter. On July 16th, the Judge ruled in favor of the city’s refusal to rezone, and the developer had only 30 days to file their appeal. The proposal before the city was to make half of the 195 acre golf course into commercial land. It is now zoned residential. The Biloxi City Council voted unanimously last year not to rezone the property, but the developer challenged the decision in Harrison County Circuit Court. The Judge’s ruling against Wal-Mart now stands, and the retailer’s project is dead. Along with Chicago and Washington, D.C., this makes at least three projects that Wal-Mart has lost this week.
Wal-Mart says it loses 15 to 20 stores a year due to opposition. This week alone, three projects went down the tubes. The total annual count of lost stores is clearly much higher than projected by the company.
