Wal-Mart proposes to demolish a former Big Bear store in Carriage Place Shopping Center at Sawmill and Bethel Roads. If Columbus City Council approves its proposal for rezoning, the existing 90,000 square-foot big box will give way to a super-sized Wal-Mart Supercenter.  The new complex will more than double the under-roof space to 200,000 square feet—about four football fields.

Architects for this mega store would eliminate a 20-foot wide landscaped green space behind the Big Bear that buffers a tree-lined, residential street and grassy playfield of Carriage Place Park.  In addition, the tree-lined boulevard that leads into the center will be bulldozed for more parking spots.  Rubble from the demolished Big Bear would be dumped in a landfill in the watershed.

The local civic association opposes Wal-Mart’s proposal. Neighbors, who will bear the brunt of the traffic, have voiced their concerns over the impact of a mega store.  Increased traffic will stress adjacent streets and impede access to residential areas.  Carriage Place shopping center already has a parking variance, and Wal-Mart is requesting another parking variance that will create a greater shortfall of over 700 parking spots.  This deficiency led City Dept. of Development staff to recommend disapproval.

PEER favors development of Carriage Place Shopping Center with appropriate consumer businesses that do not destroy existing green space or create stress for adjacent neighborhoods.

Register your concern by phoning, emailing or writing Columbus City Council members. Tell them you disapprove of the rezoning for a Wal-Mart at Carriage Place. Names and contact information of City Council Members can be found by calling 614-645-7380 or  online at <www.columbuscitycouncil.org>.

Visit <www.peerohio.org> for information on the work of PEER and updated information on the status of the Wal-Mart rezoning proposal.

COG Chair’s comment:  The Sierra Club has a long list of objections to Wal-Mart, from undercutting local businesses and putting people out of work, to labor law violations involving unpaid overtime, to outsourcing American jobs. In 2001, Wal-Mart paid a $5.5 million settlement for violating storm water discharge laws at 17 stores, and in 2004 agreed to pay $3.1 million for Clean Water Act violations due to shoddy construction at 24 stores in 9 states.