Wal-Mart won't build Mill Creek superstore

Wal-Mart has scuttled plans to build one of its massive supercenter stores in Mill Creek after local residents raised concerns that it would harm the environment.

The company also has delayed two other Snohomish County stores due to a shift in strategy at the Bentonville, Ark.-based company.

Wal-Mart said it still plans to put a supercenter in South Snohomish County — but not at the hotly contested Mill Creek site.

Wal-Mart's retreat from Mill Creek, originally reported Friday in the Herald newspaper in Everett, proves that communities don't have to "put up with sprawl. You can do better," said resident Karen Lowe, a member of Citizens for a Better Mill Creek, which formed in 2005 to block the proposed Wal-Mart.

She said the group raised money from local business owners and the United Food and Commercial Workers union to wage a regulatory battle against Wal-Mart on the grounds that it posed significant environmental risks.

"We felt that something like a Wal-Mart wouldn't be the best neighbor," Lowe said. "Also, we didn't want our local retailers going out of business. We want environmentally friendly development that doesn't make traffic worse and is actually beneficial to the community."

Wal-Mart has 18 stores between Everett and Lacey, including three in Snohomish County. Two are within a four-mile radius of Mill Creek, though the nearest supercenter — a store with a supermarket — is about 15 miles away in Tulalip.

Wal-Mart spokeswoman Jennifer Spall said many Mill Creek residents looked forward to the estimated $1.5 million in annual sales-tax revenue that the store would have contributed to the town's coffers.

"They're disappointed, we're disappointed and our customers are not happy about it," Spall said.

Wal-Mart announced more than three years ago that it planned to build a supercenter along 132nd Street on vacant land that it had under lease. The land had not yet been annexed into Mill Creek, so approval fell to Snohomish County's planning authorities, who gave the go-ahead about two years ago.

But a county hearing examiner ordered Wal-Mart to study the store's potential environmental effects — ensuring a delay of up to three years, Spall said.

"In general, we don't have a problem with doing environmental-impact statements, but this was not anticipated," Spall said. "It wasn't built into our budget or timeline, and it is not normal for Snohomish County."

She added that if Wal-Mart had owned the land, "it would have been a different story," meaning it would have kept up the fight. Instead, Wal-Mart terminated its lease and plans to find another site in the south part of the county, she said.

Meanwhile, Wal-Mart has pushed back construction on stores in Arlington and Marysville, which will now begin in 2009, with completion set for 2010, Spall said. The delays, as well as the withdrawal from Mill Creek, reflect an overall change at Wal-Mart, she said.

Wal-Mart in June revised its U.S. growth plans, saying it wanted to reduce capital expenditures and focus more on existing stores. Wal-Mart expects to open 195 supercenters nationwide this fiscal year, down from 281 last year.

Amy Martinez: 206-464-2923 or amartinez@seattletimes.com