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Wal-Mart Won't Pay Fee for Interchange Work ; Instead, Baptist Road Group May Seek Sales Tax to Finance Project

Posted on: Friday, 10 March 2006, 21:00 CST

By JANE REUTER THE GAZETTE

Wal-Mart's Monument store won't participate in a proposed public improvement fee to pay for reconstruction of the Baptist Road and Interstate 25 interchange.

The retailer's Thursday announcement derails the Baptist Road Rural Transportation Authority's financing plan. BRRTA now may ask its voters to approve a 1 percent sales tax in November.

There are regular traffic snarls at the interchange. As vehicles exit there while northbound on I-25, they often back up all the way from Baptist Road to the highway, creating the potential for accidents.

BRRTA proposed a 0.5 to 1 percent public improvement fee, paid by shoppers at Monument Marketplace and other stores already open and planned near Baptist Road. Although the special district referred to its financing mechanism as a fee, it could have been construed as merely a donation, because no business was going to be required to pay it.

BRRTA planned to use the money to issue bonds for the $16 million interchange reconstruction.

BRRTA aimed to start the work this summer, at the same time the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority widens a stretch of Baptist Road east of I-25.

Wal-Mart rejected the proposal because it considers it a tax, the company's real estate manager Roger Thompson wrote in an e-mail to BRRTA Board President and Monument Mayor Byron Glenn.

"As a company, we do not have the power to change, approve or deny tax rates," he wrote. "We believe this (fee), even though it is voluntary for retailers to join, is a tax and the voters, our customers, should have a voice."

Glenn was surprised and upset by the news.

"I'm extremely disappointed at this decision," he said. "It just kills us.

"At worst, their decision will jeopardize a life. At best, it will delay this project 12, 18 months."

Wal-Mart already has paid BRRTA about $260,000 in traffic impact fees and about $540,000 to shopping center developers for roads and other improvements within Monument Marketplace, spokesman Keith Morris said. The contribution suggested by BRRTA would cost Wal- Mart hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.

Wal-Mart participates in public im- provement fees in other communities, among them Lakewood. But Morris said those agreements were made before the retailer began construction. Additionally, the Lakewood agreement was approved by the City Council, which held public hearings on the issue, he said.

Wal-Mart also didn't have enough information on which to base a decision, Morris said.

"It was real conceptual," he said. "It was never structured (regarding) time, or the terms. We weren't even told what the increase was."

Morris said he thinks the current interchange is adequate, but Glenn said it's dangerous and growing more so as new stores open in Monument Marketplace.

Wal-Mart plans a fall 2006 opening. Home Depot and several smaller stores opened in 2004. A Chili's restaurant is under construction and the town recently approved plans for a Kohl's at the Marketplace.

BRRTA board member and El Paso County Commissioner Wayne Williams said the transportation authority needs to move forward with another proposal.

The fee, he said, was designed to be voluntary.

"If they cannot be persuaded to participate in it voluntarily, then that funding mechanism doesn't work," Williams said.

Glenn thinks Wal's decision stems from differences it had with the town. Wal-Mart approached the town in 1999 about annexing the county store site but later withdrew its proposal, citing differences with town planners.

In 2004, after the county rejected its proposal for a Supercenter at I-25 and Baptist Road, Wal-Mart submitted plans to the town for a Monument Marketplace store.

"I think Wal-Mart is still holding a grudge over being denied the south Baptist Road site," Glenn said. "I just think there's bad blood. I think it's very unneighborly of Wal-Mart to not participate in this, because it is a community need. To flat out say 'no,' I think, is very, very selfish."

Morris said Wal-Mart doesn't harbor any resentment toward the town.

"If there was any bad blood, we certainly wouldn't have gone forward with a plan for the store," he said.

The BRRTA board meets at 2:30 p.m. today at the Monument Town Hall, and will discuss a November sales-tax ballot issue.

Glenn wants to hear from Monument area residents about the idea of a sales tax. He can be reached at 651-4576.

CONTACT THE WRITER: 476-4817 or jane.reuter@gazette.com

Source: Gazette, The; Colorado Springs, Colo.

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