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City Council Regular Meeting Minutes 7 5 June 8, 2004 Page 15 1 charitable gambling reestablishing the wording of that Ordinance. He noted they would not be 2 adding any gambling to the City. 3 4 Jill Miel, asked if the Walmart decision was a done deal. If so, what would the fine be if the City 5 backed out of it. Mayor Hodson stated he would be addressing this after all comments were 6 heard. 7 8 Lona Doolan, 3511 Harding Street, stated she lived in the City for 17 years.and opposed the 9 Walmart proposal. She indicated she did not shop at Walmart because of the corporate culture 10 they conveyed. She stated she had never seen it published in the Citys' Newsletter that the City 11 was even considering a Walmart and she was disappointed to hear that the City had not conveyed 12 this information to the residents. She stated Walmart did not pay their employees enough to 13 make a livable wage and questioned who in the City would want to work there because of their 14 low wages. She stated she supported the small family businesses. 15 16 Vicki Shea, 3121 Edwards Street, stated she had lived in the City since 1975. She stated she did 17 not have a problem with Walmart. She noted small businesses had already left the City because 18 nobody shopped Apache Plaza anymore. She indicated this was the way it had become with 19 large super stores. She stated she was looking forward to shopping at Walmart and knew there 20 were other people who were happy Walmart was coming into the community, even though they 21 were not at this meeting tonight. She stated the people who opposed this, should not shop there 22 and then Walmart would leave the community. 23 24 Mayor Hodson closed the community forum. 25 26 Mayor Hodson thanked everyone for his or her comments. He stated there this development was 27 four years in the making and this had brought many challenges and opportunities with the City. 28 He sated the reality of it was, that the PUD whether it was a Walmart,Kmart or Target, anyone 29 of them could have come in and purchased the property and put a building in because it was 30 zoned for that use. He stated they could have put it into a development that the Community 31 would not like or approved. He stated as a PUD, the City raised the standard of the build out and 32 they could not chose what business went on the cite because it was illegal and against the law to 33 discriminate in this way. He stated if the residents did not like the development, he encouraged 34 them not to shop there. He stated the development was fully committed and there would be 35 severe financial consequences and lawsuits involving the City. He stated they had recently 36 found out from the developer that this was going to be a Walmart. He stated Walmart was 37 willing to pay more than the other retailers were willing to pay. He stated small retailers would 38 be in the project, but there was nothing further to be done other than residents voicing their 39 opinion to Walmart by not shopping there. 40 41 IX. INFORMATION AND ANNOUNCEMENTS. 42 None. 43 44 X. MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATIONAL DOCUMENTS. 45 None. 46 47 XI. ADJOURNMENT.