Store Size Cap - Charlevoix, MI

Grassroots groups that form to fight big-box development proposals often dissolve after winning or losing on that particular project, but not This is Our Town, a citizens group that formed to fight plans for a Wal-Mart supercenter in Charlevoix, a community of 9,000 people in northern Michigan.

The group succeeded in pressuring Wal-Mart to drop plans for a supercenter and one year later, in May 2005, celebrated the passage of new zoning ordinances in both the city and surrounding township that will limit future big-box development.

The city enacted a measure that caps stores at 45,000 square feet, which is about 20 percent smaller than a football field and about one-quarter the size of a typical Wal-Mart supercenter.

Meanwhile, the adjacent township of Charlevoix adopted an ordinance limiting stores to no more than 90,000 square feet and requiring proposals for stores over 20,000 square feet to obtain a special-use permit. Those over 50,000 square feet are additionally required to undergo market feasibility and traffic impact studies, and include a plan for reusing the building should the retailer vacate the space.