Kathlyn Know has a Wal-Mart superstore battle on her hands in the small
town of Waveland, Mississippi. Even though Waveland has six Wal-Mart stores
within 45 miles of town, including a Wal-Mart discount store on Highway 90,
Kathlyn has been quietly fighting to stop the company from destroying
somewhere between 20 and 30 acres of wetlands for a superstore. Waveland, a
gulf coast community, already has two grocery stores, and a population of
not much more than 5,000 people. But last spring Kathlyn got a letter from
the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers informing her that Wal-Mart wanted to fill
in 30+ acres of wetlands that lies south of 28 acres of her land. She is
the largest landowner near the proposed site, and is trying on her own to
protect the wetlands. She hired a drainage engineer, and asked the Corps
for a public hearing on the fill permit. Wal-Mart has told Kathlyn that
they want to convert their existing store in Waveland into a Sam’s Club,
but the 70,000 s.f. store, which has only been open around 10 years, could
end up just another 70,000 s.f. empty big box in Waveland. Recently,
Kathlyn hired a wetlands expert, who concluded that the loss of such a
large parcel of wetlands would harm the local area, including Kathlyn’s
land, which is on the runoff side of the project. The wetlands project is
in the general Edwards Bayou watershed. The Mayor, Tommy Longo, has told
Kathyn he wants the project for its (theoretical) tax base, even though the
project could have an adverse impact on the Save-A-Center and Winn-Dixie
grocery stores located within 1 mile of the proposed supercenter. The
proposed supercenter is nearly three times the size of the existing
discount store, and will be the largest retail store in the history of
Waveland. It is clearly not a regional center, since superstores already
exist in Picayune, Gulfport, and Slidell. Kathlyn’s land is zoned
residential, and the proposed store would have a major impact on the
residential value of her land.
For more information about the Waveland wetlands superstore, or to help out
with the battle, contact Kathlyn Knox at [email protected]
