TUESDAY, APRIL 25, 2006
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN 3A
3A
BUSINESS
Wal-Mart, city reach agreement
BY KRISTEN JARBOE
kjarbose@kansan.com
KANSAEN STAFFER WRITE
For the past two years, a new Wal-Mart was acceptable at the northwest corner of 6th Street and Wakarusa Drive. The problem was its size.
Wal-Mart, 6Wak Land Investments and the City of Lawrence came to an agreement Friday in connection with pending lawsuits regarding the proposed development. Under the terms of the agreement, there will be a six-month period to review the new zoning application for the property.
In 2001, the city of Lawrence prohibited the building of department stores at the corner of 6th and Waka-
new plans have reduced it by close to 20 percent, but he said he would like a larger reduction than that.
Commissioner Dennis "Boog" Highberger agreed and said there should be less retail square footage. He said he had personal concerns with Wal-Mart as a business, but for the commission it was an issue of land use on deciding whether to approve the site plans.
"I'm not real happy with the results," he said. "But we have a better deal than we would have gotten with the lawsuit."
"I'm not real happy with the results. But we have a better deal than we would have gotten with the lawsuit."
rusa. A year later, the city allowed Wal-Mart to be built at that intersection, but its proposed size was a problem. 6Wak Land Investments and Wal-Mart sued the city in 2003 for not approving the building of the store.
Dennis "Boog" Highberger City commissioner
Within the six-month period, the physical appearance will be assessed to insure that the structure maintains city standards. Commissioners are also looking to rezone the property to reduce the now 154,000 square feet to 128,000 square feet, including no more than 99,990 square feet for the largest enclosed building.
"I'm not for or against the project," Commissioner David Schauer said. "I want to make sure we have proper land use. My support is in the reduction of the square footage."
Schauer said he would like the new Wal-Mart to be smaller. The
During the procedural stages, issues will be subject to public comment at city commission meetings, Highberger said. During this time, the city commission waits for a new application for the building to be
Ric Francis/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
considered at its meetings.
Interim City Manager Dave Corliss said that with improvements at the intersection, the site should be acceptable for Walt Mart, pending the size changes.
In the current agreement, 6Wak will refund the city the attorney fees the city was directed to pay by the court from the initial lawsuit. Wal-Mart will also pay for two-thirds of the cost of a stoplight that will be installed at the intersection, according to a city press release.
Wal-Mart spokeswoman Angie Stoner was unavailable for comment Monday.
In a city press release, Bill Newsome, a partner in 6Wak, said, "We are optimistic about a successful completion of the planning process and will work with the city to achieve that result."
Edited by Gabriella Souza
Bush says large deportation won't work
NATION
President Bush addresses members of the Orange County Business Council Monday in Irvine, Calif. As Congress headed back Monday from a two-week recess, President Bush was in the country's most immigrant-rich state to push a stalled bill that would allow more foreigners to work legally in the United States.
BY NEDRA PICKLER THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
CAMPUS Holocaust survivors to speak at Union
Two Holocaust survivors will speak tonight in honor of Yom Hashoah, National
"Massive deportation of the people here is not going to work." Bush said as a Congress divided over immigration returned from a two-week recess. "It's just not going to work."
IRVINE, Calif. — President Bush, rebutting lawmakers advocating a law-and-order approach to immigration, said Monday that those who are calling for massive deportation of the estimated 11 million foreigners living illegally in the United States are not being realistic.
In addition to speaking here, Bush was meeting Tuesday with a bipartisan group of senators at the White House to press his case.
In Irine, Bush spoke in support of a stalled Senate bill that includes provisions that would allow for eventual citizenship to some of the illegal immigrants already here. Some conservatives say that would amount to amnesty.
Holocaust Remembrance Day, and the six million Jews who died in the Holocaust.
"This is one of the really important questions Congress is going to have to deal with," Bush said. The president said he thought the Senate "had an interesting approach by saying that if you'd been here for five years or less, you're treated one way, and five years or more, you're treated another."
Adela Dagerman and Lilly Segelstein, who survived the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp,will speak at 7 tonight at the Woodruff Auditorium in the Kansas Union.
Standing in the center of a theater in the round-type setting with an audience full of business people, Bush spoke sympathetically about the plight of foreigners who risk their lives to sneak into the United States to earn a decent wage. He said the
U. S. needs a temporary guest worker program to stop people from paying to be smuggled in the back of a truck.
"I know this is an emotional debate," Bush told the Orange County Business Council. "But one thing we can't lose sight of is that we are talking about human beings, decent human beings."
Lawmakers, with an eye on Election Day in just over six months, remain far apart on whether to crack down on illegal immigrants or embrace them as vital contributors to the U.S. economy.
Bush said it's important to enforce border laws that are on the books and boasted that 6 million immigrants have been captured and turned back since he took office.
"You can be a nation of law and be a compassionate nation at the same time," he said to applause.
The White House's immediate goal is to get legislation approved by the Senate and into a conference committee. The president's aides hope a compromise can be reached with House members who passed a tougher bill that would impose criminal penalties on those who try to sneak into this country and would build fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., intends to seek passage of immigration legislation by Memorial Day by reviving the Senate bill that stalled earlier this month due to internal disputes in both parties as well as political maneuvering.
Both will be available after the lecture for a question and answer session.
KU Hillel and SUA are sponsoring the event through the Midwest Center for Holocaust Education. Admission is free.
Rachel Parker
THIS WEEK ON CAMPUS
April 25,2006
PAID FOR BY KU
funded by:
SENATE