Superstore Sprawl

Packet Synopsis

When one thinks of superstores, generally what comes to one’s mind are a Wal-mart, Home Depots, a Cub Food, Target or the like. And it was generally thought that these chains were only interested in locating in the larger suburban markets in the Twin City seven county area and the major regional market communities such as St Cloud, Rochester, Fargo-Moorhead and Duluth. However as these chains have evolved and saturated their initial market profiles, they have and do recognize possible market opportunities in smaller communities and have “morphed” into formats and configurations that enable them to look at smaller market centers as potential profit centers.

And then there are the mini-Wal-marts, the Pamidas, etc. that saw opportunity in the smaller trade centers early on, what Trade Centers of the Upper Midwest 1999 Update , has classified as Level 2 and Level 3 trade centers. These are cities like Mora, the Bemidji, Waseca and Aitkin. But also level 4 trade centers are targets. For example, Pine City has its Pamida.

The policy decisions facing communities is not whether to try to ban or significantly try to restrict the entry or the presence of these businesses in the community, that is an economic decision that will be made by the market place, but how to best incorporate them into the community’s physical and socio-economic structure.

The essential challenge is how to accommodate the changing market place without damaging your community identity, your community center, usually your downtown, stressing your infrastructure investment and keeping and fostering a vibrant community.

What are also often overlooked are the regional impacts of superstore sprawl.

The following items are included in this packet because they directly address the question of so-called superstore sprawl with ideas and good advice.

Low Density Growth in the Retail Sector: Arguments For and Against Commercial Sprawl, Let’s Talk Business, Issue 40, Center for Community Economic Development, University of Wisconsin Extension, Madison, WI, December 1999 – This paper first defines sprawl and then presents arguments both against and for. It conclusions give excellent suggestions as to how communities can address the issues.

Prevention of Superstore Sprawl and Small Town Decline, Sprawl Watch, http://www.sprawlwatch.org/superstorebest.html - This paper, by the anti-sprawl group Sprawlwatch, make the very important point that “Thoughtful intervention now could critically affect the future character and economic well-being of the town and surrounding areas.” In essence, prior land use planning and community visioning is an essential. It also has a good bibliography on the issue.

When Wal-mart Says ‘Uncle’, Silvia Lewis, Planning, American Planning Association, Chicago, IL, August 1994 – The thrust of this article is that communities CAN influence the design, aesthetics, location and community impacts of superstores. It cites a number of actual cases and the strategies these communities followed, the significant one being the community’s land use planning and zoning powers.

The Big Box’s Final Frontier, Todd Bressi, Planning, American Planning Association, Chicago, IL, February 1996 – This article is included in this packet because it is an excellent illustration of how adaptive and aggressive the big box retailers can be in entering new markets, in this case New York.

Coping with Superstores, Constance E. Beaumont, Planning Commissioners Journal, Number 17, Winter 1995, Burlington, VT – This article makes two important points: First that communities, through their land use and zoning powers can control and prevent commercial sprawl and glut; second, that often many communities land use plans and zoning ordinances actually can encourage commercial glut and sprawl. It then presents a number of suggestions, annotated to actual community actions, as to how to establish community control and direction of its commercial development from interim ordinances to business retention zones.

Ye Olde Superstores, Louis Jacobson, Planning, American Planning Association, Chicago, IL, September1994 – This article illustrates that superstores are not just an American phenomenon but is international with many of the same impacts and also similar remedies to control them.

INTERLIBRARY LOAN MATERIALS

The following can be borrowed via MNLINK

Title: How superstore sprawl can harm communities and what citizens can do about it by Constance E. Beaumont ; with a preface by Richard Moe
Published Washington, D.C. National Trust for Historic Preservation, 1994.

Title: Slam-dunking Wal-Mart! : How you can stop superstore sprawl in your hometown Al Norman. Published Atlantic City, N.J., Raphael Marketing, 1999.

LEGAL NOTES

Zoning ordinances can be adopted by counties, cities and townships under Minnesota Statutes which convey to them the power to plan and zone. These are:

For Townships - Minnesota Statutes § 366.10 through § 366.18 convey to townships the authority to enact zoning regulations, zoning districts and establish zoning commissions and prescribes the manner in which this is to be done. Minnesota Statutes § 394.33 also conveys to townships the authority to plan and zone with the stipulation that any official controls, after adoption, must not be inconsistent nor less restrictive than any adopted official controls of the county within which it belongs. Minnesota Statutes § 462.352 Definitions, subd. 2. Municipality defines "municipality" to mean any city, including a city operating under a home rule charter, and any town, thereby extending all of the authority granted to municipalities to plan per Minnesota Statutes Chapter 462 - Housing, Redevelopment, Planning, Zoning - to townships as well.

For Counties - Minnesota Statutes § 394.21 specifically grants to all counties, except those in the defined seven-county metropolitan Area, the authority to “carry on county planning and zoning.” Minnesota Statutes § 394.23 gives county boards the power and authority to prepare and adopt by ordinance, a comprehensive plan, “a comprehensive plan or plans when adopted by ordinance must be the basis for official controls adopted under the provisions of sections 394.21 to 394.37.”

For Municipalities - Minnesota Statutes § 462.353 grants municipalities their authority to plan. Subdivision 1. states, “A municipality may carry on comprehensive municipal planning activities for guiding the future development and improvement of the municipality and may prepare, adopt and amend a comprehensive municipal plan and implement such plan by ordinance and other official actions in accordance with the provisions of sections 462.351 to 462.364.”

The seven metro counties are governed by Minnesota Statutes Chapter 473, the Metropolitan Planning Act.

For cities in the seven-county metropolitan area, Minnesota Statutes § 473.858 -Comprehensive Plans – governs.

Request this information packet