The Conover Planning Board balked at the project. By a 6-4 margin, the board voted against rezoning the property for the Wal-Mart project. The board also voted 8-2 to prevent the Wal-Mart project from moving forward.
“It is time for the citizens of Conover to let their feelings be known,” said Lee Moritz Jr., planning board member. “They need to be in constant contact with the city council and staff before Sept. 6.”
The Conover City Council could decide the fate of the project on that date.
“A majority of the time we go with the planning board’s recommendations,” said City Councilman Stuart Terry. “That doesn’t mean that will happen this time.”
City Manager Rick Beasley said high-quality growth is needed for that area. He stopped short of saying it should be Wal-Mart.
“Our staff recommends a project like this based on the N.C. 16 plan,” he said. “Any business that wants to come here, our planning staff is going to tell them what they need to do to be a part of this development, or look somewhere else. Wal-Mart agreed to our ordinances.”
Beasley said Conover did not seek out Wal-Mart.
“I would hope folks would understand the city doesn’t pick and choose what comes into the area,” he said. “We haven’t had a project that met that standard for this interchange until now. It could have been a Target or anything else. Wal-Mart agreed to meet the standards we set for development on the N.C. 16 corridor.”
Moritz disagrees. He said the Wal-Mart project does not fit the plan.
“When we developed that plan in 1998, it was not our intent to put a big box store in,” he said. “The biggest store in that plan was to be no bigger than 80,000 square feet.”
Chris Niver, planning director, disagreed.
“The ordinance said we can exceed that limit if the perceived scale of the store is smaller,” he said. “By breaking up the façade into a village storefront look, the size, or scale, of Wal-Mart is perceived to be smaller.”
Moritz questions the city’s research.
“I haven’t seen any environmental impact studies, no community character studies, no employment impact studies or economic impact studies,” he said. “I’ve done my research. The economic gain off Wal-Mart is lost by the closure of business around it.”
Beasley said a feasibility study was not required by the city’s ordinance.
“All of the requirements needed for Wal-Mart to develop here were met, just like any other project,” he said. “They all must meet the same standard.”
One planning board member worries about the long-range affect a Wal-Mart Supercenter will have on the city’s future.
“My biggest concern is what happened to the Super Kmart (on U.S. 70, SE),” said Janette Sims. “Now that store is just sitting there. I really don’t want that to happen to Conover.”
Mayor Bruce Eckard says reading tea leaves to figure out how city council will vote is useless.
“I could tell from the two planning board members who called me that they were leaning two ways,” he said. “We’ll see what comes up at city council on Sept. 6.”
