Holiday Cheer for Lowes Big Box: Store goes to Court Today on UDB. By YouBetcha'

Today Lowes goes to court on their request to move the Urban Development Boundary line. The courtroom assigned for the hearing is courtroom 14-2 in the County Court House at 73 West Flagler Street. The hearing starts at 1 pm and goes all week for those of you with some time to spend and a curiosity about the Miami-Dade Comprehensive Plan Process and the UDB.

Thinking about the hearing, I became curious about Lowes and the wetland factor.

Consider this: Lowes built its own headquarters on wetlands. Their Moorhead Corporate Office features a 7 acre lake flowing underneath the building with walking trails and 4 acres of wetlands. I think that pretty much sets the tone for their attraction to wetlands. I suspect the wetlands they enjoy in North Carolina will not look anything like the wetlands that they will conquer here in Miami.

I researched and came up with Lowes requesting to build on wetlands as far back as 2002. They seemed to be a bit more environmentally concerned then, and by 2005 they started being a bit more aggressive about where their stores went. A remarkable number of references to Lowes, wetland impacts and permits pop up in the search engines:
· January 1, 2003 - (Everett Business Journal) Snohomish County, Washington - This Lowe's is one of three stores opening this winter. It sits on an 18 acre site that required special considerations due to the natural habitat it provided. The city and Lowe's worked hard to preserve the area. A new wetland buffer zone was created as part of the project.

· July 9, 2003 –(New York Times) Plainfield, Connecticut - All local approvals are in place, and town officials said the only regulatory approval still to be obtained is from the Army Corps of Engineers, a requirement because of wetlands in the area…Town and state officials said Lowe's had shown sensitivity to environmental concerns. When surveys discovered two species listed as endangered in the state, the Eastern spadefoot toad and the vesper sparrow, as well as a threatened species, the blue-spotted salamander, Lowe's redrew its plans.
· March, 2005 – (Daily Herald) Arlington Heights, IL - possible wetland and right-of-way issues may postpone the closing date of a proposed Lowe's home improvement store on Elgin's west side.

· September 1, 2006 - The New York District, Corps of Engineers has received an application for a Department of the Army permit pursuant to Section 404 of the Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. 1344)…ACTIVITY: Discharge fill material into 0.27 acres of waters of the United States, including wetlands and 140 linear feet of stream channel to construct a Lowe's Home Improvement Store.

· February 7, 2007 - (Daily Hampshire Gazette) HADLEY - Local officials examine the impact the construction of a Lowe's home improvement store would have on nearby wetlands and the amount of displaced water that enters the Fort River.

· April 5 2007 - (Telegram & Gazette) Worcester, MA - Plans call for a 169,200-square-foot Lowe's to be on the 20.5-acre north side parcel, along with two restaurants, one 5,000 square feet and the other 6,800 square feet. What pops up in later articles is that the developer wants the city handle the wet land permits in exchange for the sidewalks for the community. Do the math here, how big of parcel is Lowes actually going to sit on?

· September 06, 2007 – (PressRepublican.com) Ticonderoga, NY - Construction on the Ticonderoga Lowe's Home Improvement Center has been temporarily halted while the project awaits a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers wetlands permit.

· November 30, 2007 - Wetlands Engineering report on a wetlands mitigation project where Lowes was building in Brewer, Maine wetlands.


The year 2008 was Dade County’s time for Lowes to enter our local market. They chose a wetland location for one site that HAD to be beyond the Urban Boundary even though they could build on the non-wetland area they owned on the same parcel and still be inside the UDB. Their attorney argued a need for schools (which we do not need) and their argued jobs (which we could use, but most likely hiring will be limited in this current economy). The State of Florida challenged their request on July 18, 2008, by stating the county violated their own rules to the benefit of the Lowes Corporation.

Adding insult to injury to the community, Lowes then purchased an abandoned Costco not very far from the wetland site, increased its square footage and is currently staffing it. That new store is sitting on 2 acres less than what Lowes argued they needed to have a store on during the wetland/UDB hearing.

I do not believe for one minute that Lowes became environmentally responsible or they would not be in court this week. In fact, I do not believe that Lowes corporate executives walk the talk which they aggressively claim on their website. What I do believe, though, is that it is all about green. It is about the color of money.