Walmart Rep: 'We Can Take Many Steps To Accommodate Your Needs’

Ellisville residents came out in full force on Thursday, July 18 at the regular City Council meeting in city hall. The meeting, which lasted more than three hours and was standing-room-only, focused primarily on the construction of a Walmart Superstore development proposed at Manchester and Covert Roads.

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Walmart and developer Sansone Group were seeking a conditional use permit from the council because certain characteristics of the store:

• The store is approximately three times the size of the C3 zoning standard. The store will be approximately 155,000 square feet.
• The store is a 24-hour venue, which is currently not permitted in the city of Ellisville.
• The store plans on selling liquor, including Sunday sales.
• The store exceeds height limits within the city of Ellisville. The limit on commercial properties is 30 feet, a portion of the building would measure at 31.4 feet.
• The store would be a multi-tenant location, featuring additional retailers inside the building such as a Subway, an eye care facility or a Blimpies.

Nearly every resident in attendance spoke to the council against the construction of the Walmart. Citing noise, increased traffic and crime as their primary concerns.

John  Ruprecht, a 62-year-resident of Ellisville with property on Covert Lane said that traffic would be detrimental to the neighborhood.

“Walmart didn’t do a traffic study on the residential streets, they only did one on Manchester,” Ruprecht said. “But our area is residential and people are going to be using those streets to get around, this store will put more traffic everywhere, not just on Manchester.”

Christine Bushyhead, the attorney representing Walmart, said that traffic studies were not typically done in residential areas in these situations.

“We did not do a traffic study on those streets because our initial study indicated that the impact would be minimal.”

Residents like John Hoffman, a 30-year member of the community, cited noise as his primary concern.

“We’re talking about 18-wheelers being as close as 40 feet to someone’s home,” Hoffman said. “Who wants to have a bar-be-que next to that?”

Walmart representatives said they would expand the size of their soundproofing and emphasized that they wanted to work with, not against, the community.

“We feel we can take many steps to accommodate your needs,” Bushyhead said. “But this is a mutual relationship and certain elements of it we cannot alter in order for this to be a profitable venture for us, we don’t want you to feel like we’ve forced our way in.”

The council questioned the Walmart representatives for more than an hour about the specifics of the current site plan, but not vote will be taken on whether or not to approve the permit for Walmart until the next regular meeting on August 14.

Tell us in our comments: Is Walmart doing enough to accommodate Ellisville residents’ demands?