Comments about ‘Wal-Mart returns with new proposal for Parleys Way store’

A Wal-mart would be better than the abandoned K-mart building that has been there sitting empty for several years. I grew up a couple of blocks away and it was nice to have place to shop nearby even if it was a K-mart. Kudos to the current neighbors for getting Wal-mart to come back with a better proposal. I personally hope it goes through since there is actually a lack of affordable retail in that area.

Regardless of their "redesigned" proposal, a large sprawling Wal-Mart store would overshadow smaller businesses and bring community blight to our Parleys Way neighborhood. Stay away, Wal-Mart!!

Sugarhouse is a DYING AREA!!! BUILD THE WAL-Mart!!! You need the jobs, the traffic, the business, what is your deal? Let them build!

""This is a great area for urban, mixed-use development on a walkable scale," Carlson said, "not a 100,000-square-foot suburban box store."

You already have a suburban box store there - an empty K-Mart. That whole area, including Foothill Plaza, is typical suburban retail development. Not many people are going to walk there - Parley's and Foothill are feeders into the I-80 I-215 ramps.

Why don't you cover the proposed hotel on Foothill Dr. as well? The proposed building is also much too large for the site.

A busy WalMart, walkable or not, is still better than the current blight.

To Willswords--no affordable retail? Shopko come to mind? The site has lousy ingress and egress. The city made a mistake decades back it's now being asked to rectify that mistake with another big box on site. And the site is not just a feeder for I-215 & I-80, it's a choke point. Neighborhood doesn't need it. Shopko to the west, Smith's Marketplace to the south...Fresh and Dan's nearby. If you love Wal-Mart, shop at Wal-Mart, there are a million of them--they're everywhere.

It is true that there is already a 120k sq ft store there. Wal*Mart is welcome to remodel and move into it any time. That would be an improvement over the current vacant building. I wish they would do that.

The zoning restriction limiting the size of a new building was placed on this property long before Wal*Mart bought it. The restriction was placed there in order to change away from the current style of retail whenever the building's owner decides to redevelop.

If Wal*Mart, Target, Harmon's or anyone else wants to build a 92,000 sq ft building, they should buy property that is zoned to allow that size of a building!

The only reason this site is vacant is because Walmart owns it. They have deep pockets and can sit on this property for however long it takes to wear us all down. Just like the Sugar Pit we all get held hostage by developers and then we cave because anything is better than what is there. It's the developer that creates the situation and then we all look to them as the hero.

The East Bench Master Plan was developed thoughtfully with the best interests of the community in mind. The city should not rezone a property simply because Walmart is requesting it, particularly when so many families in the surrounding neighborhoods are strongly opposed to the "upzoning."

Once a rezoning decision is made, it cannot be undone easily; those of us who live in the neighborhood will live with the consequences for many years. If we are to amend the master plan, we should do it in a holistic way, and only after gathering credible data and carefully considering the needs and preferences of the surrounding community. Once a new "big box" is built, we're going to have to live with it for many years--just as we're now living with the Kmart that was built (inadvisably) in the 1960's. Rezoning the property may help Walmart in the shortrun, but it is likely to have a negative long-term impact on the community, making it easier for Walmart (or future owners) to add large buildings and retail to the property.

Walmart should be required to abide by the zoning in effect at the time they purchased the property.