[Vision2020] Walmart Gets Nod for Starting Work

[Paul Rumelhart]

I wouldn't be surprised if Wal-mart does better during economic 
downturns than most stores.  Lots of people turning to them for lower 
prices.  I know the dollar stores can see increases in business during 
times like this.

Economic downturn or not, people still need toothpaste, bars of soap, 
kitchen utensils and whatnot.

Paul

Tom Hansen wrote:
> Let me see if I have this right.
>
> 1.  Walmart is going to build a supercenter in Pullman.
>
> 2.  The Hawkins Companies is going to build a super-large mall just west 
> of the Idaho state line after buying water rights from the City of Moscow.
>
> http://www.moscowcares.com/Washington_Water_Permit_020408.htm
>
> http://www.moscowcares.com/Hawkins_water_Panel_030408.htm
>
> 3.  While the city, the state, and the nation are victims to the largest 
> recession since 1929?
>
> Sounds like a preamble to another tax-payer bailout three years hence.
>
> Not to worry, Moscow.  Councilmen Steed and Krauss have our best interests 
> at heart . . . or is that "at stake"?
>
> Courtesy of today's (March 7, 2009) Moscow-Pullman Daily News.
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Walmart gets nod for starting work
> Contractors ready for grading permit on Bishop Boulevard
> By Hillary Hamm, Daily News staff writer
>
> Dirt could soon start moving at the site of a future Walmart Supercenter 
> in Pullman.
>
> Public Works Director Mark Workman has given a preliminary nod for 
> Walmart's Spokane-based contractors to take out an early grading permit, 
> which would allow dirt to be moved and utility work to begin at the Bishop 
> Boulevard site before a building permit is issued by the city.
>
> "What it would do is kind of give them a head start in the early phases of 
> the project development ... so they can be doing that while they're still 
> fine-tuning their plans," he said. "It is good and smart on their part. 
> The construction window on the Palouse is fairly narrow, and you want to 
> take advantage of as much of the season as you can."
>
> People were on-site Friday staking out areas for geotechnical core 
> drilling and grading purposes. 
>
> Jennifer Spall, the Washington Walmart public affairs manager, said she's 
> not sure when official work on the building will start.
>
> "That's the million dollar question," she said. A formal ground-breaking 
> is expected sometime this year, Spall said, with completion in 2011. 
>
> Pullman Mayor Glenn Johnson said the start of the project is good for the 
> city and its residents, too. Not only have building permits been down 
> substantially in the last year, but the city needs the sales tax revenue, 
> and area residents want the convenience and low prices.
>
> "It comes as good news for the community and our budget considerations and 
> the people that need the low prices Walmart can offer," he said. "From a 
> city standpoint, it comes as very good news."
>
> Pat Garrett, owner of Pullman Building Supply, said progress on the site 
> has gotten started a little too late for him to move forward with the 
> expansion and relocation of his North Grand Avenue store. He said his 
> store - which was going to be built on dirt excavated from the Walmart 
> property - could have opened in November if the store's construction 
> hadn't been stalled four years due to a legal battle led by the Pullman 
> Alliance for Responsible Development.
>
> He's also not complaining. Garrett said the current economics led him to 
> recently yank the reins on the project, despite Walmart moving ahead. Even 
> if his store had opened last year, he may have regretted it now because of 
> the slow construction and economy in town.
>
> "It's important that construction is going on to support an investment of 
> that size. And there's not that type of construction slated to start in 
> 2009 ... but hopefully there is in '10," he said. "My full intention is to 
> jump right back on board, but starting it this coming spring with Walmart 
> is not in the cards right now."
>
> Workman said Walmart has not formally applied for building permits, though 
> they're expected to soon after the grading permit is issued. Activity on 
> the site is limited to geotechnical core drilling until then, which will 
> alert builders to what's underground on the site, such as rock and ground 
> water elevations. 
>
> Workman said a grading permit typically is issued only when a grading 
> plan - which outlines how the earth will be moved - is submitted, along 
> with an erosion and sediment control plan and construction inspection 
> program, which ensures that the site will be heavily monitored during the 
> process.
>
> "Oftentimes a project is approved as a complete package ... but it's not 
> necessary to do that," he said. 
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Seeya at the Intolerista Wingding, Moscow.
>
> http://www.MoscowCares.com/Wingding
>
> Tom Hansen
> Moscow, Idaho
>  
> "For a lapsed Lutheran born-again Buddhist pan-Humanist Universalist 
> Unitarian Wiccan Agnostic like myself there's really no reason ever to go 
> to work."
>
> - Roy Zimmerman
>
>
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