The Oberlin Review
<< Front page News February 18, 2005

Wal-mart delayed by lawsuit

While many Oberlin students were away for Winter Term, Wal-mart’s march toward an outpost in Oberlin met a barrier. On Jan. 19, eight Oberlin residents and one Oberlin business publicly claimed the corporation was wrongly granted permission to erect its “supercenter” by the Oberlin Planning Committee.

On behalf of these Lorain County residents, Attorney General Gerald Philips has filed what City Council Chair Daniel Gardner has called an “administrative appeal.” The appellants have claimed that “the procedure and lawfulness of the planning board’s actions” are in question. They posit that approval for the most current Wal-Mart plans were not completely vetted by the planning board and the Oberlin populace.

The most vocal critics of the new Oberlin Wal-mart took issue with the original design for its construction, which has since been adjusted to include more environmentally-sound high-pressure sodium light bulbs, three-foot “mounding” surrounding the premise, and light poles reduced from Wal-mart’s typically larger size. At the same time, residents are wary of what the implications might be for a Wal-mart in Oberlin, a representative of corporate retail and celebrated consumerism in their small town that could easily take the place of the local general store.

Though Gardner was unable to speak on behalf of the Oberlin City Council, he did remark that, to his knowledge, Wal-mart representatives “intend to proceed with their plans” for the new store location on Route 20. This could prove to be a mistake if, at any future pretrial, Wal-mart’s motion to dismiss the appeal is itself denied. In the case that the appeal is not sustained in court, however, Oberlin will be slightly closer to the opening of its first local “big box” store.