Big box vs. Centerville vox

Super Wal-Mart wants to enter Centerville. Vocal residents aren't unfurling the welcome mat.

In the end, the decision will be in the hands of the city's planning commission, which will rely on the expertise of lawyers, planners and engineers for technical assistance.

These are difficult decisions. Big-box stores are wildly popular because people like discount retailers. They like to stretch their consumer dollar as far as it will go and, thanks to global trade, they're able to do that.

But there are always trade-offs that aren't as readily calculated as the sales tax revenue that big-box retailers can generate in a small town or the numbers of jobs that will be created. These are quality-of-life issues, such as the big boxes' impact on longtime local businesses, a town's sense of community and the service provided by mom-and-pop businesses.

In recent months, Wal-Mart has been the focal point for showdowns between townspeople who, for myriad reasons, don't want the retailer in their respective communities. As a recent voter initiative in Inglewood, Calif., demonstrated, the retail giant can be told to take a hike.

But in many cases, the hike is short-lived. Other towns hungry for sales-tax revenue, jobs and the convenience of big-box shopping will welcome the chain with open arms.

In a global economy, it has become increasingly difficult for small business to compete with big chains that have such incredible buying power they force stalwart American companies to outsource their products so they can be produced at a price the chains demand.

Whether Centerville should have a Super Wal-Mart is a decision best left to local policymakers. They must weigh the pluses and minuses, the technical information as well as community sentiment. If voters don't like the outcome, they can vote for a change in their city leadership or seek to amend land-use policies and zoning ordinances.

Local planning processes are preferable to the tactics Wal-Mart has employed elsewhere, circumventing the planning and zoning process altogether by attempting to place stores in certain communities through the initiative process.

At the end of the Centerville Super Wal-Mart debate, the decision will hinge on legal and technical issues. While some Centerville residents may not like the ultimate outcome — whatever the City Council decides — the planning process enables cities to impose site-design standards to reduce the impacts of traffic congestion and enhance the aesthetics of various developments. That's a far better option than "city planning" at the whims of initiatives driven by corporations.