Wal-Mart, city attempt to avoid costly hearing
Posted By ANTHONY DIXON
Updated 6 months ago
According to Wal-Mart Canada's director of corporate affairs, the company is trying to reach a settlement with the parties opposed to the expansion of its store in Laurentian Valley.
In a phone interview with The Daily Observer on Friday, Kevin Groh said the company has been making an effort to engage the City of Pembroke and the Pembroke Downtown Development Commission in talks aimed at avoiding a five-week Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) hearing beginning in November into the store's proposed expansion.
"We have reached out to the city with an offer of discussions aimed at resolving this," Mr. Groh said, but added at this point he is feeling disappointed.
He said there have been messages exchanged with Mayor Jacyno however, the city's response has been for Wal-Mart to deal with the city's legal representatives.
Mr. Groh said he would categorized those discussions as "fruitless."
"The result is the city and Wal-Mart are walking the plank towards a costly hearing," Mr. Groh said.
Pembroke mayor Ed Jacyno was tight-lipped on the issue.
He said he could confirm that there was some sort of interaction between the parties but added that he was not at liberty to make any comments.
Similarly, Pembroke's Deputy Mayor Les Scott said he could confirm that negotiations are ongoing between the two sides but said he could not comment on what was being discussed or how it was going.
Shelley Burchart, chairwoman of the Pembroke Downtown Development Commission, said she has heard nothing from their legal representation other than talks had occurred on at least two occasions.
Mr. Groh said if the hearing goes ahead, it will likely cost both sides a lot of money.
"We hear daily that people want an opportunity to shop with us for groceries. It's an exceptionally popular store," he said. "The situation as we see it, is an OMB hearing that is going to cost hundreds of thousands of dollars on both sides."
At the end of October 2008, Laurentian Valley council approved zoning and official plan amendments to permit the Wal-Mart expansion, which will allow the retailer to grow from 108,000 square feet to roughly 173,000 square feet.
The expansion would allow the addition of a full grocery department and allow reorganization of its other merchandise.
The application came forward last summer, sparking opposition from retailers outside the township, who argued the area couldn't support the extra business, and area roads, water and sewer couldn't withstand the traffic volumes.
Originally, the parties appealing to the OMB were the City of Pembroke, the Pembroke Downtown Development Commission and Metro Ontario Inc. (owner of Food Basics).
Mr. Groh said Metro Ontario Inc. has removed its appeal as a result of conversations between it and Wal-Mart.
Mr. Groh said he wants to have similar discussions with the city and the development commission and told the city's legal representation this at the beginning of July, however there has been no response back.
"The ball is completely in their court. We remain open to discussions," he said.
When asked what Wal-Mart could offer the city and the commission, Mr. Groh said the company did not want to be "prescriptive" in how to resolve the issue.
He said he knows the city and the commission have concerns and he would rather have them decide but to do that, there has to be a conversation.
"If their concern is around competition, we feel there is a huge demand for grocery. The number one request we get is the expansion of our food offering. We want an opportunity to explain it to the city the same way we explained it to Metro," he said.
Currently, the appeal will be heard in a five-week hearing commencing on Nov. 16 at 10 a. m. in the Laurentian Valley council chambers.
Anthony Dixon is a Daily Observer reporter
