Big Box Inquiry

In 1994, PAS received its first inquiry on "big-box" retailing. The PAS staff has answered literally hundreds of questions about various issues related to this kind of retail development. The following is an example of an inquiry, followed by a bibliography of some of the information PAS has to assist in answering questions about big boxes.

The publications in the bibliography and additional material on the subject are available for loan to PAS subscribers. If you are a subscriber and are interested in receiving these publications, please send an e-mail to pasinquiries@planning.org, or contact your PAS regional representative at 312-431-9100.

If you are not a subscriber and would like copies of the publications, we have provided links to the documents that are available in their entirety online. We have provided publishers' website addresses for the rest of the bibliography listings, so you may contact them directly about availability.

If you have any questions or comments, please contact us at pasinfo@planning.org.

Inquiry

I am a planner for a medium-sized community located in the western region of the United States. Currently, we have two vacant big box stores in town, and recently we were informed that two new stores are being proposed for the community. Our design standards need to be strengthened so we can preserve our community character and architectural heritage. We do not want additional stores designed to look like the ones recently vacated. Also, to follow the policies outlined in our comprehensive plan for future development, we need to determine the areas in the community best suited for locating these large commercial structures. We have come up with several questions we need answered prior to amending our big box ordinance, rewriting our design guidelines and developing model agreements to discourage vacant commercial structures. Can you provide information that will assist us in answering the following questions:

Does a big box store lower neighboring property values?

What is the impact of these stores on small retail businesses?

How can we measure the visual impacts of big box stores on the surrounding area?

How are other medium-sized, suburban communities regulating these structures?

What communities are using size caps, and are they being applied to an area or the entire community?

What types of design guidelines have communities adopted? Have any communities developed any innovative design concepts, i.e., new urbanism?

What are the traffic and noise impacts?

What types of guarantees do communities have so vacated big box structures do not stay empty for long stretches of time?

Bibliography

Big Box Performance Guarantees for Vacancy and Maintenance

"Big Box Retail ... Big Box Footprint," The National Trust for Historic Preservation, Preservation Advocate News, Vol. 17, State and Local Policy Edition, December 15, 1999.

"Big Box Rules on the Way?" John Munford, The Citizen Online, August 11, 2000.

"Big Box Retailers: Time to Ask for Performance Bonds?" Neal Peirce, Washington Post November 19, 1995.

"Citys Version of Big Box Ordinance Criticized," John Munford, The Citizen Online, September 1, 2000.

"Dark Stores Cast Shadows," Shannon Armstrong, Zoning News, American Planning Association, July 2001.

"Empty Anchors Force Retail Owners to Get Creative," Eric Stephens, Atlanta Business Chronicle, April 6, 2001.

"Filling Vacant Retail Space," Downtown Idea Exchange, No. 12, August 1997.

Ordinance to Amend the Peachtree City Zoning Ordinance to Control the Development of Big Box Commercial Structures and for Other Purposes Peachtree City, Georgia, November 2000.

"Fayetteville Officials Looking Closely at Retail Vacancy Problem," Monroe Roark, The Citizen Online, September 13, 2000.

"Reusing Vacant Department Stores in Small Communities," Bill Ryan and Jerry Braatz, Center for Community Economic Development, University of Wisconsin Extension, Issue 54, February 2001.

"Rewrapping the Big Box," Frank Jossi, Planning, American Planning Association, August 1998.

Robin Barker, Thomas Gavagan and Isabel Gavagan v. First Allied Waukegan Illinois Corporation, Circuit Court of Illinois, October 12, 1994. Vacant Kmart in violation of the City of Waukegan, Illinois, Property Maintenance Code.

Zoning Regulations, Development Standards, and Design Standards

Big Box Draft Ordinance, City of Santa Fe, New Mexico January 2001.

Big Box Moratorium Ordinance, Town of Easton, Maryland, September 30, 1999.

Chapter 33.130 Standards for Big-Box Setbacks, City of Portland, Oregon, The Principles of Smart Development, PAS Report #479, American Planning Association, and Oregon Transportation and Growth Management Program, September 1998.

Design Standards and Guidelines for Large Retail Establishments, City of Fort Collins, Colorado, Land Use Code, January 17, 1995.

"Physical Size Caps on Retailers," The Institute for Local Self Reliance, Minneapolis, Minnesota, publication date unknown.

Articles

"Big Box Retail," Maryland Office of State Planning, OSPlanning Memo, Vol. 1, No. 2, December 1995.

"Coping With Big Box Retailers," Laura Altenhof, American Planning Association, 1999.

"Coping With Superstores," Constance E. Beaumont, Planning Commissioners Journal No. 17, Winter 1995.

"Large-Scale Discount Retail and its Implications for the City of Northfield, Minnesota," Suzanne Rhees, Northfield Citizens Online, date published unknown.

"One Size Fits All? A Survey of Design and Review Processes for Large-Scale Retail Stores in Major Cities in the U.S. and Canada," The Municipal Art Society of New York, Summer 1996.

California Bill Number: AB 178 to Help Prevent Big Box Retailers from Raiding Local Communities Tax Dollars, September 1999.

"Site Planning for Large-Scale Retail Stores," Christopher Duerksen, PAS Memo, American Planning Association, April 1996.

"The Impact of Big Box Retail Chains on Small Businesses," Center for Applied Economic Research, Montana State University-Billings, 2000.

"Whats Wrong with Wal-Mart," prepared for the Albemarle, North Carolina Planning Commission, Fall 1999.

Impact Studies

The Shils Report, "Measuring the Economic and Sociological Impact of the Mega-Retail Discount Chains on Small Enterprise in Urban, Suburban and Rural Communities," by Edward Shils, Ph.D., The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, 1997.

"The Impact of Big Box Grocers on Southern California: Jobs, Wages and Municipal Finances," prepared for the Orange County Business Council by Marlon Boarnet, Ph.D., University of California at Irvine, September 1999.

"The Effects of Superstores on Industrial Areas: What Can We Expect in Queens?" The Municipal Art Society of New York, Summer 1996.