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Wal -Mart wants to
move into Chanhassen
Article by: , Star Tribune
Updated: October 25, 2011 - 4:05 PM
A big -box debate is kicking up some dust in
the southwestern metro community of
Chanhassen.
Wal -Mart has proposed to build a 120,000 -
square -foot retail store on a 14 -acre site at
the southwest corner of Hwy. 5 and Powers
Boulevard, and the plan has spurred a
petition drive against the project.
Those on all sides of the issue can attend a 7
p.m. public hearing on Tuesday before the
Chanhassen Planning Commission at City
Hall, 7700 market Blvd.
The property at 1000 Park Road already
contains a large building, built in 1986 and
vacant for the past several years.
It would be torn down if Wal -Mart gets the
green light to proceed, said Kate Aanenson,
the city's community development director.
"What they're doing first is seeing whether
piece of property," she said.
The issue will be whether to rezone the
property from industrial office to planned
unit development status, she said.
Although the proposal is at the "concept"
phase, some citizens are speaking out
against the store and have organized an
online petition drive. It asks Chanhassen City
Council members to scuttle the project,
saying that Wal -Mart would add too much
traffic to an already -busy intersection,
negatively affect "local home -grown
businesses" in Chanhassen, and cause
safety concerns requiring additional police
activity.
Others have said that a Wal -Mart would ruin
the small -town feeling of Chanhassen, and
that the store isn't .needed because there's
already a Wal -Mart in Eden Prairie near Eden
Prairie Mall, about seven miles away. Target
has stores in both communities.
Supporters of a new Wal -Mart have said that
the store would create hundreds of jobs for
the community, add valuable revenue to the
tax base, and make good use of an under-
utilized property.
The potential Wal -Mart site is located across
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Powers Boulevard from Ridgeview
Chanhassen Clinic and near a number of
other businesses.
Feedback at city hall
Chanhassen Mayor Tom Furlong said he has
received numerous calls and a -mails about
the proposed store, but is keeping an open
mind and wants to hear more from city staff,
citizens and Wal -Mart representatives at the
public hearing.
"It has been a while since we've had a project
of this size come through," Furlong said. "I
think that's a credit to our area and our city,
that in an economy where very little is
happening in terms of new retail
development, that businesses are looking to
Chanhassen as one of the places that they're
looking to expand."
Wal -Mart signed a purchase agreement to
buy 26.5 acres in the nearby city of Carver in
October 2007, but decided against building
a store there the following spring.
If approved by the city's Planning
Commission, the Chanhassen project would
go to the City Council for discussion and
possible action on Nov. 28.
Aanenson said that if the city approves the
rezoning, Wal -Mart would then have to
return with a more detailed final proposal
that would go through the same process of
city review and discussion.
Tom Meersman • 612 - 673 -7388
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