6.12. SR 10-18-1999 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Chapter 10 Page 4 of25 . Gene Davidson, a resident of Berea, Ohio wrote the following in a letter to the National Trust for Historic Preservation: "I believe that the land that we love' is literally vanishing before our eyes. The present new construction rate of Wal-Mart, Super Kmarts, Meijers, and others of superstore' breed guarantees others an inevitable destruction of much of what we hold dear. Add to the new construction starts of the superstores all of the franchise operations, such as Sub-Way, McDonalds, Taco Bell, etc., and you can project ten years down the road an intolerable situation. This country would eventually be virtually unrecognizable from what we knew as the United States just one generation ago."2 While the sixties and seventies were replete with new regional shopping malls in the suburbs, the eighties and nineties ushered in the "Big Boxes" ofWal-Mart and Kmart, Home Depot and other sprawling discount stores located near the intersections of major highways. The new discount stores were in many cases funded by redevelopment funds that were denied to "Main Street" merchants struggling to survive the exodus from downtown. The economic vitality of the downtown oozed out as the highway interchanges were the place to go. As the downtown businesses closed, there was a desecration of civic and cultural life affecting families, education, crime and violence. The new mega-store required municipal and state investments in roads, water and sewer lines, police and fire protection and other governmental. servJces. . As one travels through the towns and cities of America, it is easy to note negative change with abandoned buildings, unsightly parks, declining majesty of public buildings and general malaise. Interviews with surviving O'Nners of retail stores disclose a hopelessness. They say "the traffic is gone"; the "future is bleak" --- "I may have to close." In the four states the autho: vis.ttrd, he saw numerous instances of community groups fighting supercenter sprawl. Often th.P~/ resemed the financial packages (RDA) funds offered to developers and chains. They feared the increase in pollution and traffic congestion that would affect school crossings. They deplored a lack of downtown planning that permitted illogical zoning changes. They feared the new chain stores would not add to the size of the consumer market -- but only cause commercial glut until the small retailer was eliminated. They were concerned about the negative impact upon the environment as well as the cultural, scenic, fiscal and economic impacts. .'.\ t ',.. ~..., , The National Trust for Historic Preservation designated the state of Vermont as "endangered." They wanted to make the nation more aware ofthe destructive phases of urban sprawl. The Trust's report was a "wake-up call" to communities 'to evaluate prospective changes in their way oflife. Was it always necessary to create huge sprawling developments or rezone farm land and industrial land several miles from a compact and traditional "Main Street" set of enterprises? . Since many of the mega-retail discount chains have built their supercenters with federal and state redevelopment funds; would it not be possible to apply RDA funds to rehabilitate old strip shopping centers and old malls? Could they not be given financial and physical "face lifts" -- to continue their desirability, both commercially and aesthetically? http://www.shilsreport.org! chap I O.html 10/6/99