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Nov. 2004 UPDATE: Voters in Belfast, Maine, narrowly approved a ballot initiative that will allow stores of up to 200,000 square feet on four lots on the north side of town. The final vote tally was 1,970 to 1,794.
Three years ago, Belfast citizens defeated a proposed Wal-Mart superstore and enacted a 75,000-square-foot store size cap by a 2-to-1 margin.
Since then, Ames, a regional department store chain with a 45,000-square-foot store in Belfast, folded. Proponents of the zoning change argued that the community needed more shopping options and that department store retailers like Wal-Mart would not build stores smaller than 75,000 square feet (Wal-Mart in fact has built several smaller stores elsewhere in New England).
Belfast First, a citizens group that championed the size cap and fought the ballot initiative, contended that residents' needs could be met by expanding local businesses. They noted that Reny's, a Maine-owned chain of about a dozen discount stores, planned to replace its existing Belfast outlet with a much larger store of 32,000 square feet that will offer a broad range of household goods.
They also pointed out that a 150,000-square-foot store would consume fully one-quarter of retail sales in the county, undermining many existing small businesses and creating economic dislocation, not growth.
Whether the zoning change will usher in immediate big-box construction remains unclear. No specific proposal is on the table. The mayor and much of the city council oppose large-scale retail development. Two pro-big box council candidates, including Lewis Baker, who sponsored the ballot initiative, were defeated by a wide margin. Baker, whose family owns some of the land affected by the zoning change, has urged the council to "act quickly" to bring in new development---presumably before the community changes its mind.
In 2001, after Wal-Mart optioned land on the outskirts of Belfast, Maine, a community of 6,500 in the fast-growing midcoast region, the city council adopted a temporary moratorium on large stores and placed an initiative permanently banning stores over 75,000 square feet on the ballot.
At first, the council was widely criticized for being "anti-growth." Informal polls suggested more than 60 percent of residents favored Wal-Mart.
But an extensive public education campaign by the grassroots group Belfast First turned the tide. "People learned a lot about our economy and about the predatory practices" of large retail chains, noted Mayor Michael Hurly.
On election day, voters endorsed the size cap by a 2-to-1 margin.
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