[Note: Registered Walpolean subscriber Barbara O’Connor sent me the recent extensive report of the “Big Box” Sub-Committee of the Brattleboro Planning Commission to share with Walpolean readers.  I have excerpted it below to make its size manageable.  (I could email you the whole thing if you request it.)  The building proposed by Berkshire Development for Walpole is 68,400 square feet.  The largest store in it will not exceed 40,000 square feet, and the other three or four stores in the building will be considerably smaller.  CCB]

A Big Box Store is defined for our purposes as a retail establishment greater than 50,000 square feet in floor area. There is currently just one retail store in Brattleboro greater than 50,000 square feet, the Home Depot on Putney Road, comprising a footprint of 61,000 square feet. Although the 50,000 square foot threshold is by its nature somewhat arbitrary, numerous communities around the country have imposed caps on retail stores greater than 50,000 square feet, and a bill proposed in the Vermont legislature selects the same size threshold….

There is an extensive body of academic and other literature on Big Box Stores, which overwhelmingly demonstrates the overall adverse impact of large-format retail establishments on local economies and municipalities. Aside from studies paid for by Wal-Mart, the subcommittee was unable, despite significant research, to find a single independent study refuting these negative impacts….

One study concluded that big box retail generates a net annual revenue deficit of $468 per 1,000 square feet. The main factors were higher road maintenance costs and greater demand for public safety services. For example, the City of Pineville, North Carolina had to raise taxes to subsidize police calls primarily associated with big box stores, and in East Lampeter, Pennsylvania, crimes generated at a Wal-Mart accounted for one-fourth of the town’s non-traffic citations, criminal misdemeanors and felony complaints. Closer to home, planning board members and the police chief in Epping, New Hampshire complained last year about the cost and burden on the town’s small police force of responding to more than 250 calls that year for incidents at a 203,000 square foot Wal-Mart, mostly theft, accidents, and check fraud….[CCB Comment: It was suggested at the last Walpole Planning Board meeting and afterward as well that specific study be made on what demands for additional public services that additional stores such as Berkshire proposes might raise. I do not know whether anyone is looking into this issue.]

Locally owned stores contribute much more to the local economy than national chains. One independent study based on Chicago stores concluded that locally owned businesses contribute 70 percent more to local economies than national chains. This is because local businesses use local services such as banks, printers, accountants and newspaper advertising, unlike national big box stores. In addition, locally owned stores usually feature more locally produced products than big box stores with established supply systems, which helps the local and state economy….

Expanding the scope of DRB Review of Big Box Stores would send a pro-business message. One consistent criticism of capping the size of Big Box Stores is the perception that doing so sends an anti-business message which will hurt Brattleboro by driving away businesses that want to come here. This perception is one reason the subcommittee recommends expanding DRB review of applications for stores greater than 50,000 square feet, rather than an outright cap. The Subcommittee believes that the reasonable requirements set forth in the proposed Ordinance constitute a pro-business measure. The Ordinance allows the DRB to limit the establishment of vast stores that it finds, on a case-by-case basis, would adversely affect the town’s economy and character. The result is a pro-business climate not just for large stores that it finds will benefit the town, but also for more local, independent businesses that are the hallmark of a thriving community….