Sprawled Out: The Search for Community in the American Suburb

Walmart, Target, Best Buy & Other Big Box Retailers Embrace Sales on Smaller Scale | Moneyland | TIME.com

ABOVE: Meijer artist rendering; retail as far as the eye can see .... 

As Franklin faces the impending addition of a gigantic Meijer big box, dismantling the Crossroads Regulating Plan in the process, the rest of the commercial world sees the benefit of ... smaller: 

While the big-box retail model is far from dead, stores such as Walmart, Best Buy, and Cabela’s are realizing that the enormous, one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work for all shoppers—nor all locations. To grow, many retailers are shrinking, sometimes with smaller stores, sometimes by introducing smaller, more intimate and approachable locations within larger stores.

Read the rest at: Walmart, Target, Best Buy & Other Big Box Retailers Embrace Sales on Smaller Scale | Moneyland | TIME.com

Franklin council delays action on Meijer proposal - JSOnline

Above: A Meijer community meeting in Franklin.

Here's an article that oversimplifies a more complex issue. As a member of Franklin's Economic Development Committee and Plan Commission, I can tell you that there are, actually, myriad issues that have NOT been dealt with relating to DNR permits (Meijer subverted the process a bit when they went to a DNR pre-plan meeting with a full plan) and the DOT's fairly tone-deaf road requirements. Homeowners who live nearby are in for quite a change.

Meijer has proposed a take-it-or-leave-it 24-hour big box with an ocean of new impervious surface. The DNR requires that a site plan be submitted that does not impinge upon the floodways and wetlands to the extent that the current plan does; Meijer is then charged with proving that the improved site plan is impossible.

Meijer has not submitted that plan or its reasons for not creating a more location-sensitive site plan; the DNR has made it clear that the burden of proof resides with Meijer. The Franklin Plan Commission voted on the site plan and other accommodations for Meijer WITHOUT access to the alternate site plan (I was the lone "no" vote on the Commission).

Communities get the development they deserve. Big box stores of this size demand a large market share and will drain that market share from surrounding businesses (the Franklin Pick and Save Center on 76th Street is already for sale; they know which way the wind blows). A store like Meijer is certainly welcome, but they should develop the property with sensitivity to the community, surrounding neighborhoods, and local long-term economy. The answer is there, but Meijer has not presented any alternatives.

Read the rest at: Franklin council delays action on Meijer proposal - JSOnline