A new blog with the descriptive name They Are Building A Wal-Mart On My Street has a report from a meeting last week of the West End Civic Club about the possible “Heights” Wal-Mart. Representatives from the offices of City Council Member Ed Gonzalez and State Rep. Jessica Farrar, plus developer Ainbinder, were present to provide information and answer questions.
-WalMart intends to speak to the community, but as there is not yet an agreement in place, it is not the intention of WalMart to speak to the community until they ‘have a project’.
-The Developer insists that they (Ainbinder):
-Want to speak to the community
-Want to obtain community feedback
-Want a positive development for the community
-Wants any retail development to fit within the community-The councilman’s office made it clear that they do not desire to have a ‘Suburban Style WalMart’ plopped down in the middle of the West End.
-Both Ainbinder, and the Councilman’s office agreed that they desire a ‘different kind’ of big box store. A WalMart built in the West End must be a ‘different’ kind of WalMart.
-Whether the WalMart is intended to be a 24hour a day operation has not been decided yet.
-Ainbinder understands that there would need to be a significant infrastructure improvement in the surrounding area.
-The Goal of any new development would be to have a less impermeable footprint for drainage than what presently exists
There’s a lot more, so go check it out. So far, everyone is saying all the right things, but who knows what will eventually happen. Note that the site in question will be more than just a Wal-Mart; according to this Chron story, linked from this post, the Wal-Mart would be on the west side of the property, which is to say on the Bonner Street side, with other shops on the Yale side. We should get more information soon, so we’ll see what that might look like.
Good luck.
Any chance for a serious discussion about the Northcross WalMart in Austin was hijacked by the “ZOMG IT’S WALMART” folks.
I just posted notes from the SN 22 meeting Monday, and the Meeting with Ainbinder yesterday …
http://theyarebuildingawalmartonmystreet.blogspot.com/2010/07/big-time-meeting-with-city-councilman.html