Cave Creek Walmart Facts

The projected Cave Creek Walmart 24-Hour Supercenter traffic would add one million vehicles per year.

According to Security and Exchange Commission figures, to bring in the projected revenue, the 128,000 sq. ft. Cave Creek Walmart would need to generate twice as much in gross sales than every other Walmart in the U.S. The average Walmart is 186,000 sq ft., 45% larger than the proposed Cave Creek Walmart Supercenter.

P.R.I.Z.E. does not advocate for a property tax. Taking into account Walmart’s filings with the SEC, a property tax of $56/month per household would negate the need for a Walmart. Any property tax requires a vote by the residents–it cannot be imposed.

According to the Cave Creek White Paper–the new economic model for the Town–the new sewer plant won’t be operational for two years (2011). Walmart cannot open for business until the sewer plant is operational. Claims that the November vote is costing the Town sales tax revenue are obviously fraudulent.

P.R.I.Z.E.’s objection to Walmart is that they are refusing to locate in the appropriately designated corridor. Walmart chose to purchase residentially-zoned land with the intent of obtaining an up-zoning from the Cave Creek Town Council. Walmart claims they do not build on leased land, which the 240 acres is, yet Walmart has, in fact, built on leased property in Arizona, Connecticut, California, Illinois, Missouri, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania as well as other states. Walmart has signed a 12-year lease at 838 W. Elliot Road in Gilbert.

Once Walmart was approved by the Cave Creek Town Council, the Town lost legal authority to require Walmart to pay for water, sewer, and road infrastructure improvements that only the Cave Creek Walmart will require. If the November 3rd referendum fails and Walmart does not willingly pay for these infrastructure costs, they will become a multi-million dollar expense that citizens will have to pay for.

There are at least 20 million square feet of empty Walmarts across the country.

Cave Creek Propositions 400 & 401

The only reason to amend any provision in Cave Creek’s General Plan is to refine a process which makes it possible to create or commercialize something that is currently prohibited under the existing General Plan. Under Cave Creek’s General Plan, commercial businesses are prohibited on residentially-zoned property. An amendment to Cave Creek’s General Plan is necessary to up-zone residentially-zoned property to general commercial.

Cave Creek Proposition 400 was a Major Amendment to Cave Creek’s General Plan as it changed the overlay to allow general commercial zoning on residential land. It is the more important of the two propositions as the General Plan dictates land use on any given piece of property.

Cave Creek Proposition 401 was a rezoning of residential land to general commercial. This rezoning is contingent on the passage of Cave Creek Proposition 400.

Cave Creek Propositions 400 and 401 have stayed the town council’s actions until after the Cave Creek election on November 3rd.

The General Plan Amendment, Proposition 400, is the more important of the two propositions. Only a “NO” vote on Proposition 400 will restore the private property rights of Cave Creek citizens.

THE CAVE CREEK ELECTION ON NOVEMBER 3RD WILL RESULT IN ONE OF THE FOLLOWING OUTCOMES:

These Two Scenarios Will STOP A Walmart:

A “NO” vote on both Cave Creek Propositions means that the General Plan amendment and the rezoning fails and that the land remains residential.

A “NO” vote on Proposition 400 will negate a Walmart by defeating the land use change in the General Plan, regardless of what the vote is for Proposition 401.

These Two Scenarios Will SUPPORT A Walmart:

A “YES” vote on both Cave Creek Propositions means that the General Plan amendment is approved and the land is rezoned to General Commercial.

A “NO” vote on Proposition 401 and a “YES” vote on 400 will merely delay the rezoning of the Walmart property. The General Plan dictates future land use. The “YES” vote on Prop. 400 (the General Plan Amendment) obligates the town council to again rezone the property in the future.

To protect residential private property rights, vote “NO” on Cave Creek Propositions 400 and 401.

No on Proposition 400

The Truth About Walmart and Taxes: Based on Walmart’s own financial filings, the average Walmart store would produce approximately $1.5 million in sales tax revenue per year for the Town. This breaks-down to about $300 per resident and is half of the figure dishonestly claimed by Mayor Francia and other supporters of Walmart.

Moreover, it will take several years before the Town benefits from the tax revenue produced by Walmart. The Town will have to pay millions of dollars to improve roads, bring in sewer and provide water. Town Council could have approved the rezoning subject to Walmart paying for these infrastructure improvements, but failed to do so. Now the expenses will add to the financial strain of the Town and ultimately be placed squarely on the backs of Town residents. This failure is much like those of the Water Company and waste water treatment facility for which residents are already paying dearly.

It is time Cave Creek demanded real solutions from its elected officials for the Town’s current financial crisis. A Walmart on rural residential land as a bail-out is not one of them.

I respectively request you vote no on this proposition and not allow the change in land use for the Walmart property.

Christopher Aepli

Against Proposition 401

Anything for a buck. The Council’s action for this commercial rezoning of our residential neighborhood is the first of many steps cited in the Town’s white paper to change our Town, our Town core, abandon our existing general plan and abandon our current businesses, horsemen and horsewomen, and artists. Other White Paper steps include fast tracking rezoning and development and marginalizing citizen oversight. These are desperate reactions to try to increase revenue by desperate leaders and managers who have mismanaged our Town’s resources and assets.

The best indicator of the future is to look at the recent past. A quick look back is evidence of our Town’s mismanagement. And, there is no sign that future management is or will be any better regardless of the promise of future revenue sources or strategies.

This attempt to bring commercial rezoning, big boxes, fast track processes, and development to our residential neighborhoods are the first steps in a strategy to rewrite the values of our community. By their actions, current leaders and managers have no intention of keeping Cave Creek a place which values a western horse culture, western life style, dark skies, western businesses and artists.

Cave Creek’s values should not be Cheap Imports, but a strong community that unifies itself to preserve our natural beauty of our neighborhoods, horse culture, trail system, dark skies, existing western businesses, and artist community. We do not have to accept anything for a buck. Vote no.

John Meeth

Against Proposition 400

The General Plan is the town’s roadmap to the future. It contains the vision of the community. By changing the General Plan, which the Town Council has done for Walmart, the vision of the community changes to reflect a big box at our gateway.

Walmart did not buy commercial land. They purchased residential land directly abutting a residential neighborhood. The Town granted a General Plan amendment to accommodate them. With one hundred twenty acres of big box commercial on our western border, and not a single tenant, the Town has ignored the current General Plan in favor of spot – zoning.

Recent actions of the Council send a clear message to the citizens; the character of Cave Creek is about to change.

A General Plan amendment on the Walmart property will bring twenty-four hour a day noise, traffic, and lights. It will further congest an already dangerous and overloaded intersection. Even the possibility of it happening has made it impossible for the abutting homeowners to sell their homes. But there’s a bigger picture here; a Council with no respect for private property rights, paving the path to a town very unlike the one you chose to call home.

Good and fair planning created a commercial corridor on the western edge of town allowing an eighty acre buffer between potential development and existing residents. The Olesen Rd. neighbors are not being given the same consideration . Their homes are within one hundred fifty-nine feet of the proposed big box. I doubt that any of the Council members or their friends need to worry about such irresponsible zoning, but obviously the rest of us do. Whose neighborhood will be next?

Silence is acceptance. Vote no.

Grace Meeth

Opinion Against Proposition 400

Many of us purchased our land and built our homes, and lives, in residentially-zoned neighborhoods with residential property buffers from nearby commercial lands, fully understanding that the neighborhood property was not commercial property. We chose to live in these neighborhoods based on the official Cave Creek General Plan Land Use Map zoning.

The Cave Creek Town Council and Town Managers, by changing the General Plan as it has done for a single applicant, Walmart, has done substantial damage to our lifestyle and our neighborhood. Should the unsound financial and management decisions of the Cave Creek officials require the personal sacrifice of your home and lifestyle in your residential neighborhood?

How much 24 hours/7 days a week commercial traffic, noise, light and vehicle pollution, and increased crime to the area is justified by allowing neighborhood residential land to be “Amended” for commercial use by this applicant?

Without the benefits of an independent traffic study, an environmental impact study, and comprehensive site plan analysis, along with input from the immediately adjacent property owners, this general plan amendment and up zoning is unconscionable.

Cave Creek annexed approximately 240 acres of land to be used solely for upcoming commercial development. This land further west on the Carefree Highway was designed with an appropriate buffer zone to the adjoining residential properties. The Walmart site is approximately 600 feet south of the Carefree Highway and only 160 feet north of houses, with no appropriate usage buffer between them. This in itself shows poor land use planning and is contrary to the accepted zoning applications.

A NO vote on Proposition 400 will mandate the Town Council’s compliance with the General Plan process on this and other zoning matters.

Sincerely,

Dean Phillips

Chairman, P.R.I.Z.E.

Protecting Residential Integrity, Zoning and Environment.

Propositions 400 & 401

Voting “No” on Cave Creek’s Propositions 400 and 401 this November 3rd protects your neighbor’s property now and could very well protect your property in the near future. We cannot allow ourselves to be swayed into believing that the Walmart tax revenue is worth sacrificing a few outlying Cave Creek residents for the good of the Town. The new changes to the General Plan means that no homeowner in Cave Creek will be impervious to commercial upzoning, including additional big box stores such as Walmart anywhere in the Town of Cave Creek. These changes have already been outlined in the Cave Creek White Paper (see sidebar for the link to read the White Paper). Being informed on what the Town Council has planned for your community’s future and how it will directly affect you and your property will make your decision-making process a little easier.

Proposition 400
 — Amendment to the General Plan

A “No” vote does not approve the Town Council decision to open up 20.53 acres of residential land for a land use change from it’s current status. This would revise the Land Use Map of the Town of Cave Creek General Plan and would change the land use designation from Desert Rural to Mixed Use on three (3) parcels located south of the southeast corner of Cave Creek Road and Carefree Highway.



Proposition 401 — Zoning Change

A “No” vote does not approve the Town Council decision for a zoning change from Desert Rural/Residential to General Commercial to accommodate a 24-Hour Walmart Supercenter.