City Commissioners extend Wal-Mart plat approval
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POLSON — Emotions were running high over a request for a two-year extension of the preliminary plat approval for Super Wal-Mart three lot subdivision at the June 20 Polson City Commission meeting even though the agenda item had nothing to do with the Wal-Mart Supercenter but with three adjacent lots Wal-Mart wanted permission to sell.
Both Commissioner Judy Preston and Commissioner John Campbell had questions and comments for the Wal-Mart representatives present at the meeting.
Preston commented that although Polson needs jobs, if a business is owned outside of the community, the profit goes outside of the community.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen to the other grocery stores,” Preston added.
Noting he was not involved with the original agreement with Wal-Mart, Campbell said he would like to know how a Wal-Mart Supercenter would improve the economy and lives of Polson residents.
Wal-Mart representatives answered that the immediate impact would be an additional 60 jobs with a Supercenter as well as a drop in grocery prices across the board.
Campbell said it was a “total contradiction” that Main Street Polson had been made to look better and the businesses have been encumbered with debt and now a new Wal-Mart will be built to provide competition.
“I sure don’t see the common sense in that,” Campbell said.
Wal-Mart serves pretty good right now, Campbell said.
“They have a pretty good piece of the pie. They don’t need the whole pie,” Campbell added.
Jay Schneider, Frontera Development, read a letter from Josh Rogers, Wal-Mart Real Estate Department.
“We are counting down the weeks for construction,” Rogers said in the letter.
The target date for the new Wal-Mart Supercenter is the first quarter of 2013. When the time came for public comment, residents spoke and Polson realtor Rory Horning was asked to leave the meeting since he interrupted another speaker several times.
The motion to allow Wal-Mart to sell their adjoining three lots passed.
In other business, Todd Erickson, Rory Horning and Lou Marchello all submitted letters applying for the city council seat left vacant by the untimely death of popular Polson businessman Don Smith. Erickson was chosen by the commissioners.
During his comment portion of the agenda, city manager Todd Crossett noted Officer Wade Nash of the Polson Police Department and Officer Orsino Walker of the Tribal Law Enforcement both received Medals of Valor from the State of Montana for their rescue of a person who jumped off the Armed Forces Memorial Bridge in January of 2010.
Other comments included:
• bid opening for the Skyline project slated for June 21 at 8:30 a.m. at the Lake County Courthouse.
• most surveys are back from Main Street business people. They overwhelmingly approved the parking striping, 9 feet wide and angle changed from 60 to 50 degrees. Most also support the stop signs, Crossett added.
• Landscaping will begin on the bulbouts on Main Street this week with loads of top soil dropped by the city street crew. The landscaping will be mounded and planted, Crossett explained, so water can drain off the top. Installing drains underneath was just too expensive, Crossett said.
The meeting went into executive session to discuss litigation strategy with Polson City Attorney James Raymond.
