Is Proposed Roseville Wal-Mart Store A Permitted Use Under Zoning Code?

Walmart is asking Roseville City staff to decide whether the discount retailer's proposed 160,000 square-foot store in the city's Twin Lakes area is a permitted use under the community zoning code, the city said Monday in a news update.

"Staff will be drafting a response that will be posted to the city website when it is available,'' Roseville officials said. (View the Walmart letter).

"Walmart previously requested that the City extend the deadline for acting on the preliminary plat request to July 9th, 2012,'' the city added in its news statement. "The Council will act on the preliminary plat at that July 9th meeting."

Citizens who have questions or comments, can contact Roseville City Planner Thomas Paschke at 651-792-7074 or at thomas.paschke@ci.roseville.mn.us

For their part, an attorney for Wal-Mart contended the retailer's proposed Roseville store would be a permitted use under the city's zoning code. The attorney, Susan Steinwall, contended the Wal-Mart proposal fits within the community mixed use plan for the Twin Lakes area and that there is no express limitation on big-box retail in the area.

Last month, Wal-Mart requested extending the deadline to July 9 for when Roseville must act on its request for preliminary plat approval on a proposed discount store in the community. Click here to view the extension request letter from Walmart.

Wal-Mart's request for the plat deadline extension came after the the Roseville City Council in late May moved forward with the discounter's proposed Twin Lakes store evening, rejecting .

The Council voted 3-2—with council members Tammy Pust and Tammy McGehee dissenting—to exempt the store from an Environmental Assessment Worksheet (EAW), a requirement that had held up the project, because, as some members said, a previous environmental study had already addressed the issues the EAW would target.

“I believe the [Alternative Urban Areawide Review] looked at a worst case scenario that is significantly worse than what is being proposed here,” Mayor Dan Roe said.

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