As Long as It Doesn't Look Like a Wal-Mart

The zoning commission in Deerfield Township, Ohio, has tentatively given Wal-Mart Stores (Bentonville, Ark.) permission to build a 203,000-square-foot store but has also agreed on a list of 44 conditions that would affect the new supercenter.

Some of those conditions, which evidently surprised Wal-Mart developers and engineers, could drastically alter plans for the 44-acre site by rearranging the layout and possibly reducing the number of parking spaces or even the building size.

The commission also wants to limit signs, ban outside storage and merchandise sales and, most notably, add more open, green space between the 203,000-square-foot store and surrounding roads. And the zoning commission wants to have a study done to see if the area can handle more retail.

“This caught us off guard,” said project engineer David Oakes, president of CESO Engineers and Surveyors (Dayton, Ohio).

“I recognize that it's normally a stage one review item, but stage one was done back in 1996,” said one of the commission members of the feasibility study. “There has been a significant amount of additional retail development in this area.”