Update: Mount Pleasant Tables Walmart, Waiting for Study as Requested

Update, 3:30 pm, Feb. 22: After a lengthy presentation and debate, Plan Commission members voted to table Walmart's site plan pending delivery of an independent market study of the immediate area impacted by the proposed Neighborhood Market.

Despite an intricate presentation from Walmart attorney Debbie Tomczyk and comments from residents and local business owners condemning construction of the new store, the Commission members really took no action on the retail giant's submitted site plan.

Instead, Trustee and Commission member John Hewitt made a motion to table the site plan until Walmart gets an independent study done of the applicable area as first requested last July. Several commission members and Planning Department staff all noted that the white papers returned to the village last fall do not meet the definition of an independent market study.

Trustee Jerry Garski, also a member of the Commission, seconded the motion with an amendment that whenever Walmart does return the new study that Commission members get 30 days to review it. Also part of the motion is a recommendation that the Village Board vote for a budget amendment to pay for a market study. If the Board votes down a study, then it will be incumbent on Walmart to pay for and supply the study.

Planning Director Ron Meyer warned the Plan Commission that the village is balancing on a deadline where if they don't take decisive action founded in fact that can stand up to legal challenge.

Hewitt's motion was unanimously approved.

Original Story: According to the independent market study commissioned by Greg Schilz, owner of Sentry Foods, and Ralph Malicki, owner of Piggly Wiggly on Washington Avenue, a proposed Walmart Neighborhood Market would prove fatal. The study was conducted by DJL Research in Waukesha.

The Livingston paper states, "The impact of the new Walmart Market will most likely be fatal to the Washington Street Piggly Wiggly and the Sentry."

It goes on to say that the Pick-n-Save on Rapids Drive could also close because of decreased sales, lack of improvements and age of the store. There is also mention of Target becoming a more visible competitor because of that company's push to remodel stores to make more room for groceries.

When Patch talked to Malicki about his market study, he said the matter is a personal one for him, not just professional.

"As a retailer, I am all for competition, but when it comes to saturation, it goes past competition. Someone is going away," he said. "Losing one store can be absorbed by a giant like Walmart; it's a completely different scenario if my store closes because then 100 people lose their jobs. I live here and work here. I have to look at my family, friends, and neighors and make it right when there's a complaint. Walmart is not invested in the community like that."

Schilz told Trustees last July that a new Walmart across the street coupled with the recession will only make matters worse. Sentry is the western anchor of the shopping center that includes Kohl's.

"When we bought the former Jewel store, we had a solid plan in place to make it a success," he said. "The recession has made us and some other businesses vulnerable. Moving even a smaller Walmart right across the street could hurt us further."

Whether or not Walmart's proposed Neighborhood Market comes to Mount Pleasant could hinge on if Planning Commission members accept the retail giant's market studies returned to the village last fall.

Walmart wants to build a 41,000 square-foot food market on the site of the old Little Saints day care property just west of the intersection of Highways 20 and 31. By comparison, the Supercenter on Durand Avenue three miles away comes in at about 180,000 square feet.

If the Neighborhood Market goes forward, it would be the fourth grocery store on as many corners of the same intersection. Sentry, Piggly Wiggly and Gordon Foods operate stores on the other three corners.

Trustee Jerry Garski at the July 20 Commission meeting made a motion (unanimously approved) that Walmart needed to provide an independent market study in no less than 60 days that would show how a Neighborhood Market in that location would affect local grocers. Garski made his motion because staff and Commission members requested copies of market studies the company said it conducted but wouldn't release because of confidentiality issues.

What Walmart returned to the village, however, was a packet of studies not related to the neighborhood where the new store is proposed. Instead, representatives delivered two white papers bolstering their position with a four-page summary that concluded, "Any adverse impacts are likely to accrue to firms that are already in decline. There is no basis for Village officials to oppose a Walmart Market at the Site for anti-competitive reasons."

Garski is not impressed.

"I made a motion for a market study for this area, not something done nationally," he said. "I don't understand why they didn't come forward with what was requested."

In the executive summary provided to Patch that is included in the packets for Planning Commission members, village staff outline the background of the issue, the request for an independent market study and that the fiscal impact of the Neighborhood Market will add tax base, but could also "adversely impact surrounding retailers who provide similar goods and services." More, staff asks the Plan Commission to determine whether or not the smaller Walmart would "significantly and adversely impact the village's tax base."

They also write that the Planning Commission could simply table Walmart's site plan until they produce the market study as requested.

Garski wants to know why Schilz and Malicki can get a market study done, but Walmart can't.

Patch has left several messages for Debbie Tomczyk, an attorney for Walmart, but has yet to receive a call back.

"I'm going to be honest," Garski said. "Their lack of providing the kind of market study we requested doesn't look good for them."

The Planning Commission meets at 1 pm on Wed., Feb. 22, at Mount Pleasant Village Hall, 8811 Campus Drive. Call (262) 664-7800.