CNY ecoBlog

The debate continues to heat up over the possibility of a Wal-mart opening in Saranac Lake even though its officially only a rumor. Adirondack Almanac recently posted on this growing debate, including a link to an Adirondack Daily Enterprise web poll on a Wal-mart in Saranac Lake. The poll generated a huge number of divisive if not interesting comments.

According to this unscientific poll, fifty-two percent of readers were in favor of Wal-Mart. Forty-seven percent were opposed. Peter Crowley, the editor of the Adirondack Daily Enterprise, is dismayed by the divisive nature of this debate which has already “gotten ugly”. And in his estimation it appears some sort of planning has been going on behind closed doors with Wal-mart developers, local goverment, and private land owners. (Listen to the interview from North Country Public Radio – link down the page)

As the Press Republican reports:

So far, no one claims to know for sure if the retail giant is actually interested in Saranac Lake, and the company has not commented.
At issue is a 10-acre sand pit that the village owns off Route 86 at the east entrance to town. Consultants that have worked for Wal-Mart before have inquired about its availability. The village has asked that the property be appraised and is considering changing the zoning on the lot so it can be used for commercial purposes.
It is one of a very few large lots inside the village, and would naturally be attractive to a large retailer if it were zoned commercially.

Its amazing to me that simply the rumor of a Wal-mart generates this level of debate. At the very least this forces a community to talk about its retail and economic environment, local identity and community assets, the need for planning and the future of a place. In short, to think about what kind of community you want this to be. Cazenovia went through this sort of debate and appears to be better for it (sans Wal-Mart). And the recent Walgreens debate in Eastwood has had a similar coalescing effect.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 30th, 2005 at 9:33 am and is filed under Big Box Stores, Local Communities. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.