Walmart Gets Approval on Temporary Garden Center

City planners approved a temporary permit to Walmart on Feb. 10 to operate a temporary outdoor garden sales area in a corner of its parking lot, but not without a few stern warnings from the planning commission.

“Didn’t we build the outdoor garden center big enough? I mean we haven’t even had a spring in this business yet,” asked Commissioner Gerry Jacques of store manager Jason Radliff.

According to Radliff, the corner of lot earmarked for the outdoor sales area will be temporary and will not interfere with traffic.

“We are planning on using an area of the lot that will not impede traffic,” Radliff explained.  “It will be a temporary use, and most likely be down by September.  We are also hoping to make it easier for pick up of some of the garden materials via a drive-through so customers can load their cars more directly.”

Commissioner Mark Noah agreed with Jacques. 

“I took a lot of flak for the building of this Walmart, and we made sure that the permanent structures in the plan would mean that this type of sales wouldn’t be happening," Noah said. "I will approve this tonight and look at this year as a trial run, but I would strongly encourage you to talk with your architects to see if something more permanent can’t be constructed."