Wal-Mart has decided to build two adjacent, non-connected, and size-limit-obeying stores in order to circumvent a Dunkirk, MD big-box restriction.
Store officials said plans for a single big store were thwarted by a size limit adopted last year.I was wondering when they were going to start doing this. The WaPo goes on:The store and garden center in Dunkirk will have separate entrances, utilities, and restrooms, said Wal-Mart officials. They also said the combined size of the stores will be 30 percent larger than the 75,000 square-foot limit for a single store.
Calvert County Planning Commission members said they might approve the proposed Wal-Mart because the facility is technically two stores -- a 74,998-square-foot main site with an adjacent 22,689-square-foot garden center -- that appear to conform with the regulations.This loophole exists because the more restrictive the law, the more likely it is to be thrown out in court. Active public sentiment is 50/50:"There is a loophole," said Grace Mary Brady, a Planning Commission member.
Some residents have expressed their support for larger Wal-Marts and the current Dunkirk proposal. Brady said the 20 e-mails she recently received about the Dunkirk store were evenly split between supporters and opponents of the site plan.
Posted by Kevin on March, 7 2005 at 01:05 PM
