 | Monument didn't say no: The Monument Planning Commission and Board of Trustees never voted on it.
When Monument Public Works Committee asked for Baptist Road improvements to
be made before the store would be allowed to open, Wal-Mart walked away.
"Always the low price" has a whole new meaning. |
| Doesn't fit: Goldberg is proposing to "shoehorn" a giant store onto this 30
acre parcel. No sidewalks or bike trails are included. No reasonable access
is provided to the adjacent parcels to the east. Wal-Mart proposes a sharp
drop-off right next to the church and Baptist Road. The store plus the
parking lot plus the two satellite businesses are simply too much to fit on
30 acres. |
| Requires the gift of rezoning: Requires the most intense commercial zoning, two steps more intense
than the existing neighborhood-oriented commercial zoning. Rezoning amounts
to giving Wal-Mart a multimillion dollar advantage over its competitors...so
much for free enterprise and a level playing field. |
| Taxpayers build bridge for Wal-Mart? The county is considering spending roughly 2 million tax dollars from the
drainage fund to build a bridge over mouse habitat to benefit Wal-Mart and a
handful of other developers. This is corporate welfare. Why should the
taxpayers subsidize the world's largest retailer? |
| Violates comprehensive plans: The proposal is not consistent with the county
policy plan, the Tri-Lakes
comprehensive plan, or the Chaparral Hills covenants. Furthermore,
Monument's latest draft comp plan future land use map shows the parcel as
community commercial. |
| Uses the "last bit" of Triview's water capacity: Triview has water for Wal-Mart
but nothing more. Any further development in the district will require that
a well be drilled. |
| PIC avoids TABOR: Use of the proposed Public Improvement Corporation (PIC) avoids TABOR and
transfers to a private corporation tax revenue that should have come to
Monument. |
| Voters lose control: Voters will have no say in who sits on the PIC
board of directors or the boards actions. They are not subject to public
meeting and public record laws. |
| Nothing about the PIC is in writing: This is like the Woodmen/Academy/Sam's
Club overpass debacle. As a media mogul once said, "Verbal agreements
aren't worth the paper they're written on." |
| Severely damages Monument's sale tax revenue: The proposed arrangement using the PIC would seriously damage Monument's
tax base. Loss of sales at King Soopers, Safeway and the other stores within
the Town would mean a loss of $500,000 to $1 million from the Town's $1.5
million in sales tax revenue. In turn the town would have to layoff seven or
more town employees, probably half of them would be police officers. |
| Gridlock on Baptist:. The proposal would double the traffic on Baptist Road creating
much worse congestion and safety concerns. |
| More gridlock at I-25: The proposal would "kill" the Baptist Road
interchange which won't be reworked for years, maybe not until after 2010. |
| Environmental impact: Blowing
trash; light and noise pollution; potential groundwater, private well, and wetlands
contamination with deicers and other chemicals from the garden shop, gas
station, auto service center, and 18 acres of parking lot; storm water
runoff from 25 impervious acres threatens delicate habitat in Jackson Creek. |
| Crime impact: Based on the experience with Wal-Marts in Colorado Springs
it is likely that there would be 1-3 police calls per day. That additional
load would overwhelm the two sheriff's deputies that cover the northern part
of the county. As a result, the Monument police department would have to
respond despite the town being financially strapped due to lost sales tax
revenue. |
| More debt for Triview residents? Depending on the types of bonds that are
sold, if Wal-Mart abandons the store or it doesn't produce sufficient retail
sales fee, Jackson Creek residents' may have to repay PIC's bonded indebtedness. |
