On April 30th, Sprawl-Busters reported from Rothesay, New Brunswick, Canada, that Wal-Mart had a rough hearing night before local residents, and their plans for a 110,000 s.f., plus a garden center, had not gone over very well. This week, town officials made it official. The Town Council in Rothesday yesterday voted 4-3 not to amend the community’s municipal plan. That means the Wal-Mart plan is dead for now. They can return in one year for another try, but residents can breath easier now that the threat has been lifted for at least that long. Approximately 50 people turned out to hear council’s decision. Mary-Alice Glasgow, who lives close to where the store would have been built, and who contacted Sprawl-Busters for advice, told the CBC news that she lost a lot of sleep leading up to this decision. “I’m so happy, and so relieved. We were against the rezoning. We were against the change to the municipal plan, and we were against a company like Wal-Mart moving into our neighbourhood.” Wal-Mart, as usual, claimed that most people in Rothesay wanted them to come in — not mentioning the fact that the land they chose was not even correctly zoned. A Wal-Mart Canada spokesman said her company put a lot of work into designing the store to fit Rothesay’s historic character and that a silent majority of people in town supported the company. “But obviously now we’re really disappointed, knowing that two-thirds of the people in Rothesay are in favor of this project. So it’s a sad night tonight for Rothesay.”
It may have been a sad day for Wal-Mart, but otherwise a great night for the residents of Rothesay who stood up to Wal-Mart, despite being told that Wal-Mart was a ‘done deal.’ For local contacts in Rothesay, contact [email protected].
