Group Wants Wal-Mart To Redraw S.R. 54 Plans

By KEVIN WIATROWSKI The Tampa Tribune

Published: Jun 18, 2007

ELFERS - Opponents of a Wal-Mart Supercenter proposed for Grand Boulevard and State Road 54 will ask county commissioners on Tuesday to throw out plans for the project and make the retailer start again.

Opponents of the 208,000-square-foot store include residents of nearby Colonial Heights and the St. Petersburg-based Wal-Mart Alliance for Reform Now.

The county's Development Review Committee approved Wal-Mart's preliminary plans in December. Opponents say the plans were full of holes and violated county land-development rules.

"Multiple variances are needed," said Schuyler Ellis of the Wal-Mart alliance.

The conditions attached to the December approval will result in major changes by the time construction actually starts, essentially creating an entirely different project, Ellis said.

This week, Wal-Mart asked the county for a variance to the land-development regulations that would allow for a traffic signal at the store's southern entrance on Grand Boulevard. The entrance is about 80 feet too close to the existing light at Grand and S.R. 54 to comply with the county's rule on the minimum distance between two stoplights.

Opponents say the recent request for a variance should nullify the earlier approval. Development Review Director Cindy Jolly said that's not the case. She is recommending that county commissioners uphold the DRC ruling from December.

The DRC will consider the variance next month, she said.

The 26-acre property was previously the site of a lumber yard and a car auction business. Wal-Mart selected it after neighborhood protests convinced the company to drop plans to build at a site in Holiday.

Reporter Kevin Wiatrowski can be reached at kwiatrowski@tampatrib.com or (813) 948-4201.