Wal-Mart foes launch protest

ARLINGTON – Wal-Mart’s image has been roughed up a lot in Stanwood, but in Arlington a proposed new store did not draw much opposition.

Until now.

Calling themselves Arlington/Smokey Point Community Matters, a few dozen people are organizing against the retailer’s plans to open a store in Smokey Point.

They picketed a recent City Council meeting and waved signs at traffic in Smokey Point. A petition is starting to circulate.

The question is whether they are too late. Unlike in Stanwood, where a property that Wal-Mart had expressed interest in would need a zoning change, the site in Smokey Point, on 172nd Street NE west of 43rd Avenue NE, is zoned for a big-box store.

Sher Willoughby, 42, one of the group’s organizers, said she understood the challenge, but said it wasn’t too late yet.

“They haven’t finished all the permit processes,” said Willoughby, who works at the Haggen supermarket in Arlington.

Another protester, G.H. Engelsen, 66, brought up concerns about traffic congestion. “The traffic at that interchange is a mess,” he said.

Cliff Strong, Arlington’s planning manager, said city engineers are reviewing Wal-Mart’s traffic analysis. The city will use the traffic projections to ask Wal-Mart to pay for street improvements and other fixes.

Some of the protesters, including Willoughby, are union workers upset with what they say are Wal-Mart’s unfair labor practices.

Eric Berger, a Wal-Mart spokesman, was unavailable for comment. In the past, he has defended the company as a good employer.

City officials have been telling residents in meetings and at www.ci.arlington.wa.us that the store project can be denied only if it does not meet city code.

“If they meet the code, we issue the permit,” Strong said.

Reporter Scott Morris: 425-339-3292 or smorris@heraldnet.com.

Still time to comment

Arlington is still accepting public comments. Write to Cliff Strong, Planning Manager, 238 N. Olympic Ave., Arlington, WA 98223. For more information, call 360-403-3435.