The large chain had planned to circumvent a local law in place for size-caps on retail stores.
"The project, planned for the tiny hamlet of Dunkirk, attracted attention from communities across the nation that feared Wal-Mart would use the model to subvert their own size caps for stores. The two Wal-Mart operations proposed in Dunkirk -- each with its own entrance, utilities, bathrooms and cash registers -- would have had a combined area 30 percent larger than the 75,000-square-foot limit for a single retail store.
"I've gotten calls across the country from people worried about what I call 'the Dunkirk loophole,' " said Al Norman, founder of Sprawl-Busters, a Massachusetts-based group that helps communities fight big-box stores."
Thanks to Brenda Meyer
Read the full story: Wal-Mart Drops Plan for Side-by-Side Calvert Stores
Desperate measures: Advocates weigh draining Lake Powell to fill Colorado River
Draining the reservoir could reduce evaporation losses by a couple hundred thousand acre-feet.
Eastern Nebraska is running out of electricity
Data centers and electrification are straining eastern Nebraska’s grid, throttling economic development.
Malls are becoming the midtowns of the future
Mall and office park redevelopments are a generational opportunity to create new nodes of urbanity.
NYC breaks ground on anti-flooding infrastructure project
New York City's new system will reduce stormwater flows to local sewers by 90%.
One Kentucky town’s secret to affordable housing
The Smoketown Community Land Trust has already built seven affordable homes for community members.
Houston gains petal-shaped cooling infrastructure to make streets more ‘delightful’
The city has installed the pavilions along 15 blocks in Houston.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS)
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority