Concerns about water and sewer service along the U.S. 412 bypass in Huntsville have slowed plans to build a Wal-Mart store there, a company spokesman said.
“At this time, we can’t go forward,” spokesman Chris Neeley said. “We’re continuing to work a plan to see if there is an opportunity for us to build a store there.”
The Huntsville Board of Zoning Adjustment had planned to consider a variance from city zoning code today on parking for a proposed Wal-Mart store on the U.S. 412 bypass in north Huntsville. The application included a preliminary site plan with a sketch of the store’s footprint.
But the request was withdrawn, said Jim MacLean, chairman of the city Planning Commission, which also serves as the city Board of Zoning Adjustment.
City leaders have anticipated development along the U.S. 412 bypass because of a project that widened 5 miles of U.S. 412 between Hindsville and the east side of the U.S. 412 bypass. The expansion, which is nearing completion, will provide four lanes from Springdale to Huntsville.
With the expansion ofthe highway, Huntsville officials were concerned that Wal-Mart Stores Inc. would relocate its store from central Huntsville to the bypass on land outside the city limits. The retailer is a major contributor of sales tax revenue for the city.
The mayor and the City Council spent more than a year working with landowners on voluntary annexations of more than 900 acres, which was primarily along the bypass. The annexations were approved in March.
The site proposed in the variance for a new Wal-Mart store, however, was on property that was already inside the city limits, City Clerk Janice Smith said.
City officials also said they thought development would be limited if the city did not extend water and sewer lines to the newly annexed properties.
City voters in August agreed to raise the city sales tax from 1 percent to 2 percent to pay for city projects, including an estimated $4.65 million project to extend water and sewer lines along the U.S. 412 bypass.
The project is in the engineering and design phase, which should be finished in early 2014, said Larry Garrett, executive director of the Huntsville Water Department. Construction will take 11 months.
Garrett said Wal-Mart officials have not contacted him. Water is available at the proposed site, though the water flow is inadequate for a building of the store’s size, he said.
“It can be fixed,” he said. “If that project needed to be done sooner, it can be done sooner.”
Stephen Giles, a Wal-Mart real-estate consultant based in Little Rock, said some technical issues, including the availability of waterlines, prompted Wal-Mart to delay the variance request.
When Wal-Mart considers a new store, company officials meet with city planners to determine interest in the project, Neeley said. After a recent meeting with Huntsville officials, the company learned that the city was working on providing water and sewer service along the U.S. 412 bypass.
“It’s always good when you can go into a community and the capacity is already there,” Neeley said. “They’re working their plan. They have a vision. … We haven’t made a decision yet what we’re going to do.”
The company has operated a Wal-Mart Discount Store in the city’s central business district for 30 years, he said.
“It’s been a great place to do business,” he said. “Hopefully in the near future, we can even do that in a new store format. As of today, we don’t know what that looks like.”
A new Wal-Mart store along the U.S. 412 bypass would have a “significant” economic impact on Huntsville, Mayor Kevin Hatfield said.
“We always thought at some point they would want to expand their markets into the Huntsville area,” Hatfield said.
A Wal-Mart built on U.S. 412, especially if it is a supercenter, would draw shoppers from western Washington County, eastern Madison County and parts of southern Carroll County, Hatfield said.
“With any bypass, we have a concern about it drawing people away from the central business district,” Hatfield said. “That’s the downside to the Wal-Mart store as with any development along the bypass.”
City leaders continue to make improvements to the downtown shopping district in anticipation of its growth, he said.
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 10/28/2013