After a lengthy public debate, Vancouver city council has rejected a proposal to build a 143,000-square-foot store that would have been the city's first Wal-Mart. The vote was 8-3.




City councillor Anne Roberts, who has led the fight against the store, told council that approving the application went against everything the city is trying to do to create neighbourhood centres.

She said it would have also meant thousands more car trips and created more air pollution.

"This is a monster store. It's 262,00 square feet of development, and it's the first of what could be seven more stores on an incredibly large scale."

Larry Campbell
Larry Campbell

All eight COPE councillors lined up behind Roberts on the issue. Only the two NPA councillors – Sam Sullivan and Peter Ladner – along with Mayor Larry Campbell supported the project.

And Campbell suggested that the rest of council's opposition to the development had more to do with ideology and the business practices of Wal-Mart rather than land use.

The writing was clearly on the wall for the U.S. retail giant at Tuesday afternoon's council meeting.

Just before dealing with the Wal-Mart application, council also rejected a big-box Canadian Tire store in the same area of Southeast Marine Drive.

And with both proposals now dead, Roberts says she now wants city staff to re-examine the zoning that allows developers to build big-box stores within city limits in the first place.