Noticias
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The battle over a Wal-Mart supercenter on the banks of the Anclote River in Tarpon Springs, Florida will mark its 4 year point this coming January.
On January 19, 2005 at 6:45am, after nearly 12 hours of testimony, with more than 300 plus citizens and business owners testifying against the plan, the Tarpon Springs Board of Commissioners voted 3 to 2 to approve an enormous Wal-Mart development on the Anclote. One vote made the difference.
The site plan approved included a 24 hour SuperCenter with a 1,000 space parking lot, tire and lube center and an out parcel for a restaurant or retail store, plus 6 acres for residential or office development. A citizens group called Friends of the Anclote River charged that the plan was an irresponsible project that would have adverse impacts on the ecology, the economy, the traffic burden, and the small town character and future of the community. For almost 4 years now, The Friends of Anclote has kept up their battle to protect their river. "That's our main concern," a spokeswoman for the group stated. "It's a river of special significance and state agencies have not taken that to heart."
Under community pressure, Wal-Mart submitted a second plan in October of 2007, with a 204,000 s.f., "Mediterranean-style" supercenter. The City of Tarpon Springs' Technical Review Committee (TRC), after a three hour hearing, voted to approve the plan---with some minor changes. But the Friends of the Anclote River filed an appeal with the city's Board of Adjustment, arguing that the TRC review was not warranted, because the changes Wal-Mart made in its updated site plan were major in nature, not minor ones. Major changes would trigger further city review and public hearings.
In January of 2008, roughly three months after the TRC vote, the citizens won their point. The Tarpon Springs Board of Adjustment decided that Wal-Mart was, in fact, requesting major changes to its plan. Wal-Mart was left with two options: appeal the ruling by the Board of Adjustment, or turn the clock back three years, and go back to seek a vote from the Board of Commissioners. Wal-Mart chose to go back to the Commissioners. At the end of September, 2008, Wal-Mart was back before the Tarpon Springs Planning and Zoning Board. At least 90 people showed up for the hearing, and more than one-third of them asked to testify. Only one person from the public got to speak, because most of the meeting was spent in legal wrangling. Wal-Mart's lawyer tried to get two members of the board to step down from the case, because they had spoken publicly against the plan.
