Sunday, October 04, 2009
Don't roll over for Sam's Club
Christian Trejbal
Recent columns
- The candidate who almost wasn't
- Christiansburg considers historic preservation
- Plowing the Huckleberry Trail, or not
- The left needs its own Tea Party
From the RoundTable blog
Sam's Club is coming to Christiansburg. The long-standing rumor is finally true, but the dream could become a nightmare for a town that has never shown much interest in regulating development.
Sam's is a wholesale club. Members pay an annual fee for the right to buy bulk items at cheap prices. If one is willing to stock up on a few dozen rolls of toilet paper, five pounds of pecans or 1,000 napkins, there are bargains to be had. It best serves families and people with space to store consumables for months.
The Sam's chain is owned by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and is named after company founder Sam Walton. It's a less cool version of Costco, for those more familiar with that warehouse club.
The nearest one now is in Roanoke. Unless shoppers are heading down the mountain anyway, it is inconvenient and the savings diminish once one figures the cost of gas.
Rumors about a Sam's opening in Christiansburg have circulated for years. The whispering really took off a couple of years ago when it looked like a Wal-Mart Supercenter might open at First & Main in Blacksburg. Opening a new Supercenter so close to the one already in Christiansburg seemed to make little sense. Surely Wal-Mart would change the Christiansburg store into a Sam's.
The buzz died with the big box at First & Main. We all remember what happened. Citizens formed the group Blacksburg United for Responsible Growth (BURG) and rallied against the project. Council passed an ordinance requiring special permission to build a big-box store. The town defended that ordinance all the way to the Virginia Supreme Court and won. Any plan for a big-box store at First & Main now is dead on arrival.
So the company turns it eyes to Christiansburg.
Wal-Mart officials last week revealed they are assembling plans for a Sam's Club at the Christiansburg Market -- the barren shopping center across the street from Olive Garden that housed a Wal-Mart years ago.
After the company submits its plans to the town in a month or so, planners and engineers will carefully study them to determine if they fit the town's character, development standards and building code.
Who am I kidding? This is Christiansburg we're talking about. The only way the town would reject Sam's is if it were an adult superstore. Christiansburg loves commercial development, and the property is zoned for it.
In addition, Christiansburg has no big-box ordinance to gum up the works. Even if council were inclined to block Sam's, it lacks clear authority to do so.
Unless ... maybe there is a way. Blacksburg, after all, passed its big-box ordinance at the last minute. Before Sam's submits its paperwork, Christiansburg Town Council could hurry through an emergency ordinance that requires council approval of all new large retailers.
Then, the town would have a hammer.
Your thoughts
- What do you think of Sam's Club coming to Christiansburg? Post to the RoundTable.
Don't get me wrong. I hope this project goes through. I'd prefer a Costco, but if this is the best we are going to get, it sure beats driving to Roanoke for warehouse shopping.
What worry me are the effects Sam's will have on the north end of town, especially on traffic. Franklin Street, Peppers Ferry Road and Arbor Drive -- the street that runs by the post office -- already carry more traffic than they probably should. Sam's would add hundreds or thousands of new vehicle trips daily. After it opens, the stores that fill out the complex would bring hundreds or thousands more.
If the town had a hammer, it could negotiate for traffic studies and improvements to mitigate the effects. That could mean new traffic lights, widening roads, and maybe, while we're dreaming, installing bike lanes, sidewalks and crosswalks. The town could negotiate for some trees, attractive landscaping to capture runoff and smart lighting that does not spill into the sky all night.
More likely, though, council will see dollar signs. Tax revenue from a Sam's would be huge, enough, maybe, to help pay off the debt on the aquatic center that still has not opened.
Perhaps what the town really needs is a citizens group to lobby for something better. They could call themselves Christiansburg Allied for Development Standards.
