Wal-Mart submits new plan for store

Retailer reduces footprint for Supercenter at Sixth and Wakarusa

Wal-Mart will try again for the city’s go-ahead to build a Supercenter at the northwest corner of Sixth Street and Wakarusa Drive.

But the new plan is for a store roughly 20 percent smaller than the one in the company’s first, failed proposal.

Store officials said Wednesday they hoped the smaller size would give them a better chance of receiving approval.

“It is very close to the commercial square footage that has already been approved for the corner,” said Todd Thompson, a Lawrence attorney representing Wal-Mart. “It’s responsive to some of the concerns that were expressed by the planning commission last time.”

Like last time, the Wal-Mart plan probably will draw opposition from residents of northwest Lawrence.

“People haven’t fallen asleep on this,” said Jeanne Newman, who led a petition drive against the first proposal.

Under that plan, the store would have occupied 190,000 square feet ” plus another 9,000 square feet for an outdoor garden center. The store would have included a full-service grocery store and car service center.

That drew fire from neighborhood residents, who said the store would create too much traffic for nearby Free State High School, and an October recommendation for denial from the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission. The store withdrew the proposal in late November, before the Lawrence City Commission could deny it outright.

Old vs. newWal-Mart on Wednesday unveiled scaled-back plans for a Supercenter at Sixth Street and Wakarusa Drive in its bid to gain planning approval.Some key differences (all measurements in square feet):

Original plans New plan
Store 190,000 151,588
Garden center 9,000 6,378
Auto store yes no

The new proposal, submitted this week, includes:

  • Store space of 151,588 square feet, plus 6,378 square feet of garden center. That’s a reduction of more than 40,000 square feet from the earlier plan, and close to the 154,000 square feet of commercial space that already has been approved for the site.
  • Removal of the auto service center.
  • A promise for a “significant reduction” in commercial traffic at the intersection. No specifics were provided.
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Under state law, developers who fail to get regulatory approval for their projects must wait a full year to try again — unless they can demonstrate they have made “substantial change” to the proposal. The law doesn’t define “substantial”; planning commissioners will decide Dec. 18 whether Wal-Mart’s new proposal is different enough from the first to warrant a fresh hearing. Approval or disapproval of the plans would wait until after the new year.

Newman said smaller wasn’t necessarily better in her book.

“We just feel it’s an inappropriate use next to the high school,” she said. “It’s a qualitative issue, not a quantitative issue. It wouldn’t matter if the store was 1,000 square feet.”

The planning commission meets at 6:30 p.m. Dec. 18.