BURLINGTON — Since Gov. Peter Shumlin announced that a new Wal-Mart retail store would be built in the Newport-Derby area this year, environmental advocacy organizations have fought to derail the project.
Wednesday, two of those groups — the Preservation Trust of Vermont and the Vermont Natural Resources Council — dropped their opposition as part of an agreement to increase downtown tax credits and the promise of a moratorium on some “big-box” retail development in the state.
Jeff Davis, developer of the Derby, St. Albans Town and Williston Wal-Mart stores, plans to provide $200,000 to the Preservation Trust for Orleans County and restrict his role in the development of big-box retail stores outside of city centers until 2020. The moratorium only applies to projects developed by Davis, who said he has no plans for additional Wal-Mart stores in the pipeline, downtown or otherwise.
In addition to the agreement, the Shumlin administration will ask the Vermont Legislature for an additional $500,000 for the Downtown and Village Tax Credit program, a 30 percent increase to the existing $1.7 million program.
Shumlin, who has said the Wal-Mart store will support job growth and provide an affordable retail option to residents in the Northeast Kingdom, said the three-part agreement will benefit Vermont cities and towns.
“I think it allows us to use our resources in smarter and better ways, and it allows us to bring folks together, and instead of disagreeing, find where we can agree to do great things for Vermont,” Shumlin said at a news conference inside the vacant Armory building at 101 Main St. in Burlington, site of a downtown hotel project.
Davis said the deal was necessary to prevent a three- to four-year battle with local opposition, even though he has support from Derby and Newport. There is nothing in the agreement to prevent other parties from opposing the store.
“Fighting’s no fun,” Davis said in an interview. “Everybody got something, and maybe we can avoid a long-term battle and disagreement.”
Davis said the $200,000 will be added to the $600,000 in mitigation funds already earmarked for Newport to prepare for the potential negative impact of the Wal-Mart retail store, which will be located outside the center of the city.
“I think Vermont wins, the governor is right,” he said.
Davis said no new Wal-Mart stores are planned for Vermont, even inside city centers. Though his development company is bound by the moratorium, Wal-Mart is not.
“The chances of another one, Morrisville comes up once in a while, obviously, but that’s … there are no plans, we don’t have any plans there,” he said.
The Derby Wal-Mart would be the company’s sixth in Vermont — there are stores in Bennington, Berlin, Rutland, St. Albans Town and Williston. There are also Wal-Mart stores located in the New Hampshire border towns of Hinsdale, Littleton, Woodsville and West Lebanon.
Brian Shupe, executive director of the Vermont Natural Resources Council, said the moratorium will help to ensure that big-box retail stores and strip development will not drain city economies.
He said there is still the potential for another Wal-Mart, but the moratorium will slow it down for six years.
“I think there are areas of the state that have potential,” he said. “You know, there is only one in Chittenden County where there could be multiple ones. … So there’s potential, but hopefully this will put the brakes on that.”
He said after 2020 he does not know what might happen.
Lawrence Miller, Secretary of the Agency of Commerce and Community Development, said it is likely that the Legislature will approve the 30 percent tax credit increase, but it won’t be easy.
Miller said the tax credit would allow cities to continue to develop up to an additional six projects per year. He said these projects could include elevator improvements for handicapped accessibility, for example.
He said for every dollar of tax credits, there is about $15 in capital improvements, which would total $7.5 million in downtown construction investments for the yet to be approved $500,000 in tax credits.
The program has supported projects in Barre, Bellows Falls, Dover, St. Albans, Winooski and other Vermont communities, a news release said.
