Speculation over. Wal-Mart Supercenter on way to AlachuaBy Ronald Dupont Jr.
Herald Editor
ALACHUA — Wal-Mart has ended nearly six months of speculation of whether a Supercenter will be built in Alachua by asking a state agency late last month for the first of many permissions to build one at the intersection of U.S. 441 and Interstate 75.
The 184,000-square-foot building would be built on the southeast corner of the intersection on roughly 36 acres behind the McDonald's restaurant.
News of Wal-Mart's application to the Suwannee River Water Management District for an environmental resource permit sent ripples through the group of residents and business owners opposed to the retail giant opening in Alachua.
They are concerned about environmental implications, as well as the effect Wal-Mart would have on area businesses.
A long-planned meeting set for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 21 at the High Springs Civic Center has turned into a rallying point of sorts for those concerned with the retail giant.
The meeting originally was going to focus on studies in which colored dye was dumped into area sinkholes and then tracked. Now attention is being given to a particular study in which dye was dumped into Mill Creek Sink — located near the proposed Wal-Mart property.
That dye showed up 9 miles away, 12 days later, at the springs in Camp Kulaqua.
"This means that stormwater runoff could carry pollution from the proposed 18 gas pumps, lawn and garden chemical storage, oil change station, and parking lots directly into our groundwater via sinkholes on the site or poorly designed retention ponds," High Springs resident Karen Hill stated in a letter to the editor in this week's edition of The High Springs Herald.
The Supercenter also has been a key component of the Alachua City Commission race between Lewis Irby and James Lewis. Irby has said he is opposed to Wal-Mart opening at the proposed location, and Lewis has said that if he is shown that Wal-Mart will hurt local businesses, he will not vote for it.
The spokesperson for Wal-Mart in the North Florida area is out of town and could not be contacted by late Wednesday.
Wal-Mart's First Steps
While Wal-Mart has not yet made a formal application with the city of Alachua, the company late last month applied to the Suwannee River Water Management District for a environmental resource permit.
That permit is based on a Wal-Mart-submitted site plan that shows where the building, parking lot, retention ponds and everything else associated with the business will be located.
That site plan may end up getting changed if Alachua city officials require alterations. If any substantial changes are made to the site plan, then it will have to be brought before the water district again, said Jon Dinges, the director of Resource Management for the district.
Wal-Mart is getting an environmental resource permit first because that's what Alachua's regulations require, said Darryl Tompkins, manager of the First Street Group, which owns the land that Wal-Mart wants to purchase.
Tompkins said he cannot speak for Wal-Mart and that the only reason why his name is showing up on official documents is because he is the representative of the land's owners.
Concerns About Supercenter Being Raised on Two Fronts
On the edge of the land on which Wal-Mart is proposing to build the Supercenter is a sinkhole with a fissure leading 140 to 160 feet into the aquifer, said Cindy Butler, who acts a guide for underwater cave divers wanting to explore the underground geology from Mill Creek Sink.
That sink is located across U.S. 441 from where the proposed Wal-Mart property is located.
She said that the fissure on the Wal-Mart property leads into an underwater river that flows from the Wal-Mart property to as far away as Hornsby Spring in Camp Kulaqua, if not further.
She said that Wal-Mart has historically exposed its chemicals, fertilizers and other materials to the weather, and she said she's fearful that the material will find its way into the aquifer
The entrance along U.S. 441 to the proposed Wal-Mart property was made locally famous when filmmaker Wes Skiles of High Springs showed divers swimming in caverns underneath the entrance.
Butler said that Wal-Mart should be required to drill borings deeper than 50 feet to determine where the underwater caverns on the property may be.
"They don't know exactly what they're building over," she said.
In addition to the environmental concerns, residents are raising concerns about what legal steps Wal-Mart might not have to take with the city of Alachua. Comments have been made that if the zoning already is correct for the property, then the Supercenter may not even have to be considered by the city commission and, instead, will be heard by the Planning and Zoning Board.
Members of that board are appointed, not elected.
Mack McCuller, a Jacksonville attorney representing undisclosed individuals and business owners in the area, said the zoning set for the property has expired and that the prior zoning would apply.
This would mean, he said, that Wal-Mart needs to go through the rezoning process before asking for further public meetings and approval.
Further, McCuller said, the city's long-range growth plan and the city's Vision 2010 Plan call for the city to adopt standard for "big box" development — as supercenters are often referred to.
"We understand the city has not yet adopted the ordinance or design standards called for under both the Vision (2010 Plan) and the (Comprehensive Land Use) Plan," McCuller stated in a Jan. 13 letter to the city.
In a telephone interview Tuesday, McCuller said he was fearful of the city's reaction if the Suwannee River Water Management District gave Wal-Mart a permit based on the site plan.
"We believe there are a lot more problems than a site plan approval," McCuller said. "...I hope the city doesn't take that (a water district permit) to mean they have to approve (the Supercenter)."
www.highspringsherald.com/articles/2006/03/16/news/news01.txt
