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The Moscow City Council voted 3-2 tonight to deny the SuperWalMart rezone! Big thank you's to Council members Bob Stout, John Dickinson and Aaron Ament for their votes for Yes Moscow, No SuperWalmart! And big thank you's to every one of you for your help! It takes a community to defeat WalMart. We'll keep working to place a size cap for large retail stores in the zoning code so we don't have to fight this fight ever again. Yes Moscow! City Council Videos May 15, 2006 Aaron Ament (7 minutes, 31 seconds - 14 megabytes) John Dickinson (6 minutes, 18 seconds - 12 megabytes) Bill Lambert (4 minutes, 33 seconds - 8.6 megabytes) Bob Stout (2 minutes, 45 seconds - 5 megabytes) John Weber (2 minutes, 34 seconds - 5 megabytes) After six months of organizing, community discussion, petitions, letter writing, and public hearings, the Moscow City Council, by a 3-2 vote, upheld a Planning and Zoning Commission recommendation and rejected a request from a developer to rezone 77-acres to Motor Business. If the rezone had been approved, it was Walmart's intention to build a SuperCenter on what is now a wheat field across the Troy Highway from the Moscow Cemetery. Walmart is not without its supporters in Moscow. Ten years ago, they were so firmly in control of Moscow city government that the rezone allowing the development of the current Walmart on the west edge of town occurred before almost anyone was aware it was even under consideration. But beginning with the founding of the Moscow Civic Association a short three years ago, balance is being restored to civic decision-making. Defeating Walmart's rezone request would not otherwise have been possible. If this were a baseball game, it would be bottom of the seventh, Moscow 2, Walmart 0. The play is now focused on amending the Large Retail Establishment ordinance to include a size cap that would effectively ban supersized stores as out of scale with the Moscow community. The Planning and Zoning Commission is at the plate, expected to forward a cap recommendation to the City Council by late July. Meanwhile, the developer may come to bat with another proposal for a smaller area to be rezoned - still big enough for a SuperWalmart, but less than the 77-acres that just struck out. The "game" is not yet over. But this isn't a game. This debate is about the very real heart and soul of Moscow. So let's celebrate all the good things the Council's decision embodies, but not forget that elections happen every two years. |
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[home] [ This is not a group to debate the merits of a SuperWalmart in Moscow The intention of the group is to defeat a Super Walmart project. ] Subscribe to the discussion group listserv here: http://list.nosuperwalmart.com/listinfo.cgi/citizens-nosuperwalmart.com  contact: info@nosuperwalmart.com |
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