West Broadway Wal-Mart continues to drive politics

It’s been more than two years, but the vote on the Wal-Mart store on West Broadway continues to remain a divisive issue.

The two candidates for Columbia City Council Fourth Ward position — Mike Holden and Jerry Wade — were in the midst of their terms on the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission in late 2004 when the developers of the Wal-Mart requested planned commercial zoning on the 30-acre site.

Holden, who voted against the request, and Wade, who voted for it, have raised the issue as a way of helping voters differentiate between their platforms.

“It was one of the most complicated issues that has come before the Planning and Zoning Commission in my seven years,” Holden said. “Of the 60 people I had sign my petition, I probably had 30 of them ask me how I voted on Wal-Mart.”

Before the developer’s request, the site carried 17 acres of general commercial zoning and 12 acres of single-family residential zoning. The developers told city officials they’d build a Wal-Mart either way. Without the rezoning, they’d build a standard red, gray-and-blue square Wal-Mart on the 17 acres. With it, they’d build a more attractive but larger red-brick Wal-Mart, complete with fencing, landscaping and four acres of green space. And the planned zoning would give the city more control over how the final product was built.

Wade liked the latter option; Holden liked the former.

“If built under the existing ... zoning with minimal controls, the store would have been a big ugly box, created traffic congestion in an area not equipped to handle additional traffic and have very negative consequences for the nearby elementary school,” Wade wrote on his Web site.

“My vote was a vote to determine what kind of Wal-Mart it would be,” Wade said. “My vote was not a vote for Wal-Mart.”

While Holden agreed that planned zoning is generally better for the city, he felt the larger Wal-Mart was simply too big for the area.

“I did vote against the proposal because the proposal that came before us was, I thought, too large a scale,” Holden said. “I would have reduced it more in size.”

Holden also argued that the larger Wal-Mart would generate more traffic and negative consequences for Paxton-Keeley Elementary School near the site. Wade, however, said the planned commercial zoning allowed the city to control that impact by requiring certain street improvements and design features.

In the end, Wade was in the minority on the commission, which voted 6-3 to recommend that the council reject the request. The council, however, later approved the request on a 5-2 vote after negotiating for a slightly smaller building. Jim Loveless, current Fourth Ward councilman, voted in favor of the final proposal.

Both Holden and Wade said they were pleased with the way the development turned out in the long run.

“I think that we have as attractive and well-designed a Wal-Mart as you’ll find anywhere in the country, with attention to the details the neighbors wanted attention to,” Wade said.

Holden agreed, but said he still found the size to be an issue.

“I think the site is very, very well done,” Holden said. “It’s a beautiful store, but I think it still could have been smaller.”