A North Carolina community has been fighting against a Wal-Mart supercenter, and their efforts have paid off. Here's a press release from the community group C.A.R.E. (Citizens Against Residential Encroachment) who lead the fight against the new supercenter.

On March 3, 2008, the Knightdale Town Council announced the cancelation of the Village Park Commons development (including a new Super Wal-Mart), citing economic downturn as the reason. C.A.R.E. (Citizens Against Residential Encroachment) is very pleased with this decision and the victory it represents for so many town citizens. There are many reasons people from all over objected to the development. Some citizens were concerned with traffic, some with crime, some with the environmental impact, and some with the sheer size so near residential homes. Many people could not understand why a new Wal-Mart was needed with one 3.2 miles down the road, and a new one nearly finished in Zebulon—let alone the fact we already have a very successful Wal-Mart in Knightdale. The Town’s own LURB (Land Use Review Board) cited many of these very things before rejecting the proposal.

Some on the Town Council have already begun to blame us for revenue losses and other problems, but we strongly reject that notion. The Town’s flagrant disregard for so many concerned citizens’ wishes is what led us down this road. The people did not cause any loss in revenue, the Town did. It was their unwillingness to negotiate or compromise that forced this into the courts. No effort, in nearly two years, was made by the town or by the developer (Rick Rowe) to come to any kind of win-win type solution. With no good options ahead of us, town residents continued to fight in the only way they could. This effort was made to protect our property, our children, and our way of life—things every American would strongly fight for, just as we have.

We hope that, in the future, the Town will show a stronger willingness to hear the voice of its constituency without the need for legal action. We know the developer thought a few (hundreds, actually) angry voices would go quiet, but they did not.