“I love the peace and quiet,” explains Cathy McCashin, a resident of Surrey, British Columbia, who is leading an effort to toss out a plan by Wal-Mart to build a new store on largely vacant land. “It’s an attractive area,” McCashin told the Vancouver Sun. “We absolutely love this place.” Wal-Mart wants city officials to rezone the property to a new comprehensive development zone. The Scott Road area Wal-Mart covets is predominately populated by min-malls. “This would be out of character for us,” McCashin says. When she moved into her townhouse, McCashin was told by city officials that a condo project was slated to go on the land that abuts her backyard. The developer happened to go bankrupt, which opened up the door for a rezoning application from Wal-Mart. “This lot is humongous,” McCashin explained. “It will be absolute misery. The store would be open seven days a week and be very disruptive. Nobody here wants it.” The store is slated to be 105,000 s.f., and residents have organized a petition drive to bring to the City Council. McCashin moved to Surrey about a year ago, and admits she would never have bought her townhouse if she had been told that a Wal-Mart would be located behind her property. A representative of the developer, Carter Property Consultants, told the press that the Wal-Mart store would be the size of a typical department store.
Opposition to Wal-Mart knows no geographic boundaries. Canadian communities from Guelph to Woolwich have fought Wal-Mart’s plans to build superstores in small communities. For further information about the Surrey,BC project, contact Sprawl-Busters.
