HistoricOmaha

On Wednesday, May 3rd, the Omaha Planning Board will review an application for a Super Wal-Mart on 72nd and Hickory, the former Ranch Bowl site. Omaha by Design, the Planning Department and many others have been discussing the site and the proposed development for several months. As we near the Planning Board hearing, we want to make our position clear to all those who support Omaha by Design and contributed to the creation and passage of a comprehensive urban design plan for the City of Omaha.

IT’S NOT ABOUT WAL-MART;
IT’S ABOUT OMAHA’S FUTURE

Have you ever strolled around Kansas City’s Country Club Plaza and enjoyed the tall, artistic towers, the old brick, the sculpture and colorful murals? How about the cleverly disguised but plentiful parking – serving restaurants and retail stores of the highest quality?

The Plaza is a beautiful example of how urban design – done well – makes a positive statement for an entire community, and is a win-win for retailers, customers – and families just out for a stroll.

But, developments such as the Plaza don’t happen by accident. They result from the firm commitment of political and business leaders, developers and the citizenry to consistent standards of urban design.

The City of Omaha has an Urban Design Element in the City Master Plan that was adopted by the City Council in December of 2004. That plan received the participation, input and eventual approval from hundreds of Omaha’s citizens who wanted something better for their city. It consists of 21 goals and 73 implementation recommendations in Green, Civic and Neighborhood Omaha. Omaha by Design and the City are now partnering in the implementation phase. The goals range from a green streets master plan, green parking lots, to new mixed use centers and designated areas of civic importance. One such corridor is 72nd Street, one of the longest and most significant north-south thoroughfares in our city. The Urban Design element calls for special attention to this area of civic importance.

Omaha by Design, the Planning Department and many others have been working for several months to ensure that a Wal-Mart store planned for the former Ranch Bowl property at 72nd and Pine Sts., meets or exceeds what is called for in the city’s master plan and ideally meets the intent of the Urban Design Element. Although the Urban Design Element is the comprehensive urban design plan for the City of Omaha, the timing of this project comes just months before the new zoning code revisions are in place. In the absence of the revisions, the City must rely on their current zoning requirements.

Therefore, Omaha by Design agrees with the Planning Department that the Fort Collins’ design an example of the standard for the 72nd street location, but only the minimum standard. We look to Wal-Mart’s Fort Collins, Colorado, store because it was used as the design reference when the Avaya property at 132nd and L Street was converted from a green open space to the location of Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club and Home Deport. It was the project that served as the catalyst for the creation of the new Urban Design Element.

We do not object to Wal-Mart’s presence in Omaha, but we would like it to conform to those elements of urban design which our citizens have told us are important to them and which led to the creation of the Urban Design Element. In short, our concerns are more about the Omaha of the future and the Omaha its citizens want, than they are about Wal-Mart itself.

Omaha by Design sponsored a review of the Wal-Mart’s most recently revised plans by a team of experts including architects, landscape architects, planners, engineers and developers. The planning department participated in this review. The purpose was to enlist the help of professionals to look at the site and Wal-Mart’s plan, to see how consistent the plan is with the City’s current zoning codes and with the spirit and intent of the new Urban Design Element that was unanimously adopted by the Planning Board and City Council as part of the Omaha Master Plan.

Since 72nd Street has been designated a street of civic importance in the Master Plan, we focused our attention on those areas directly impacting 72nd Street. The goal was not merely a decorated facade or a massive parking lot with a few trees planted in asphalt.

We quickly learned that the site presented real challenges. First, the average super center store for Wal-Mart is 25 acres, the 72nd location is 16.5 acres. It is the smallest Wal-Mart site in the metro Omaha area. This makes it very difficult to place a 5 acre building on the lot if they would not consider a two story building. The only option then was to dig into the hillside on the south and move the dirt to the north end to create a parking lot surrounded by retaining walls.

Other challenges include a major utility power line running through the middle of the lot. A significant grade change that requires major retaining walls – some as high as 30’ tall. Wal-Mart has meet all of the infrastructure challenges through major earth excavation, retaining walls and creatively designing a loading dock where trucks unload their merchandise on a mezzanine level and lower it to the shopping level.

Now it is time for them to focus on the design guidelines and pedestrian amenities of the Urban Design Element.

The design team recommendations include good pedestrian access and connection, appropriate monument signage, quality building materials, loading dock screening, significant landscaped areas with a chance of plant and tree survivability, major pedestrian entrance at 72nd and Pine and reduced and redesigned retaining walls along 72nd Street from Woolworth to Pine. These would improve the general appearance and functionality of the site and are issues currently required in the zoning code. These changes are the things Wal-Mart has done in many other cities. Surely, Omaha, deserves as much, at the very minimum.

Wal-Mart has subscribed to the community philosophy concerning urban design in many other cities. Wal-Mart’s own press materials point out that they currently have 20, two- story buildings and some even have underground parking and pervious parking surfaces. Why can’t Wal-Mart pay more attention to Omaha’s standards at this location? The Omaha World-Herald recently reported on the Dutch design of the Wal-Mart in Pella, Iowa because they had design standards.

We are not anti-Wal-Mart nor, for that matter, anti-business or anti-economic development. The new standards will produce an environment conducive to economic development. We believe that business owners, their employees, customers and neighbors benefit when attention is paid to that environment. Wal-Mart can certainly be in Omaha, but we want it to conform to those elements of urban design which our citizens have told us are important to them.

Omaha by Design is focusing on one issue regarding Wal-Mart’s proposed super-center on 72nd Street - it is the urban design issue – our mission! Issues being made by other groups regarding the 24 hour store, traffic congestion, zoning changes, drainage issues, etc. must be addressed by the Planning Board. If Wal-Mart meets all the requirements, we believe that their own opportunities can be enhanced by consideration of the changes being proposed and can do better by thinking creatively about their location on a street of civic importance. This site with a well designed, pedestrian oriented building could help set the standard for large retail commercial developments rather than simply modify an existing suburban model. In so doing it would demonstrate Wal-Mart’s civic concern and support of the new vision of the City of Omaha.

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