Breaking News Flash As Feature on Sprawl-Busters: What You Can Do

Organized opposition from residents in Lisle, IL has put the brakes on a Meijer's superstore that we first mentioned in newsflash back on 12/19/99. The company has stores throughout the Chicago area, in St. Charles, Bolingbrook and Aurora. Others are proposed in Hoffman Estates, Rolling Meadows, Elgin, Algonquin, West Dundee, Bloomingdale and Lisle.

 According to the Daily Herald newspaper, Meijer's "has raised quite a ruckus" with proposals for Hoffman Estates, Bloomingdale, West Dundee and especially Lisle, where residents have sued the village and the store. "I can't figure out why people are kicking up a big fuss except for the size of the store," commercial real estate broker Stuart B.Lenhoff (web site, email) told the Daily Herald. "Some people are dead set against growth no matter what type of growth," said John Zimmerman, a Meijer's spokesperson. "If somebody tried to build a residential (development) they'd probably get the same type of excitement as we'd see while trying to build a store." 

The family-owned Meijer chain has 143 stores spread across Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky and five in Illinois, of which its first Chicago area store opened last year. The company was founded more than 60 years ago in Greenville, Mich. In Hoffman Estates, residents have complained of the potential for adverse traffic, drainage, effect on property values and lighting for the 24-hour store. 

"We come across (NIMBY) no matter what area we go to. Even if it's in a rural area," Zimmerman said. "It's just the whole concept that if a store goes up that more people are coming to an area. That's what they assume." The company says it tries to meet with residents for two reasons, to calm their fears and work into their construction plan some concerns they may have. "We don't go in assuming that we would have a lot of road blocks," Zimmerman told the Daily Herald. "When issues arise, such as NIMBY's, we try to meet with (them) and try to explain how we will impact the community in a positive way. There is no way that we would want to impact a site where the traffic is so bad that nobody wants to shop our store." 

Residents in Bloomingdale, IL. objected to the 193,000-square-foot Meijer's superstore, raising issues of traffic and noise. A plan Oct. 17 was narrowly approved in West Dundee after residents opposed the Meijer's there for the same reasons. 

In Lisle, four residents sued the village and Meijer saying they weren't allowed enough public comment. A DuPage County judge sided with the residents and slapped a Temporary Restraining Order on the property until the situation was resolved. An Illinois appellate court last week upheld the judge's decision. 

The case is being appealed by Meijer's to the state's supreme court. The case has become a thorn in the side of Michigan-based Meijer Inc., where officials call the Lisle situation the worst clash with residents over trying to build a store. "We've never brought it to the level of the state's supreme court," Zimmerman said. The company plans to file petitions Nov. 3 to the Illinois Supreme Court in the hope of overturning a lower court decision that prevents Meijer from building at the Lisle site. 

"The residents do make a difference. And the elected officials do listen," Lenhoff said. "But I think as an elected official they have to look at their tax base." The company typically opens 13 stores a year, and have about four or five real estate representatives in this suburban market who do nothing but look for sites for future Meijer stores, Zimmerman said. "Let the buyer beware. And shame on you if you built a beautiful home near a beautiful area that will be developed," Lenhoff said. "You've got to know that certain intersections eventually are going to go commercial. It's just a question of when."

What You Can Do

No, the real estate people quoted in the Daily Herald story have it all wrong. Let the BIG BOX stores beware! And shame on them if they decide to build a huge monument to their arrogance by locating in an area that has strong community opposition. 

These Meijer's people don't seem to have a clue about why a community would get upset over a store more than 4 times the size of a football field. Where have they been for the past decade? Have they learned anything from the negative reaction to Wal-Mart and Home Depot superstores? And why does Meijer's persist in trying to shove this store down the neighborhood's throat by keeping this in the courts. Having stirred up opposition in three communities, you'd think that the folks at Meijer's would have focus groups to find out why homeowners don't want to live next door to their monsters.

Shame on Meijer's for being such a corporate bully, and shame on them for wasting taxpayer's money by appealing their case to the state Supreme Court. Build a big store, create a big fuss. It's a Meijer mistake typical of most of corporate America. For more information on the citizen's battle against Meijer's in Lisle, email info@sprawl-busters.com