Some Westlake residents and their Acreage/Loxahatchee neighbors are unhappy that Walmart may be coming to town. They’ve been venting on social media, and several attended the Westlake City Council’s meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 10 to voice their displeasure.
“It’s an abomination,” Westlake resident Iris Lopez said. “It will bring a lot of negative attention to the city.”
Lopez, a resident of Liberty Lane, said that she is in the process of collecting petition signatures against the proposal.
“I will do whatever is within my power to stop it… [including] stand with a picket sign,” she said. “When I bought my house here and invested so much into it, the last thing I expected to see was a Walmart in close proximity. A lot of people are very, very concerned.”
William Derks, who lives in the rural Loxahatchee enclave of Santa Rosa Groves, expressed concern about the impact a Walmart would have on traffic on already-congested Seminole Pratt Whitney Road.
“There currently isn’t the infrastructure to support these big box stores,” Derks said. “Don’t put the cart before the horse. Invest in the infrastructure ahead of these [stores].”
Westlake Vice Mayor Greg Langowski said Wednesday that he was not surprised by the negative remarks during the session’s public comment segment. Unhappiness with the prospect of a Walmart in the community has bubbled up on social media over the last couple of weeks.
Westlake City Manager Kenneth Cassel announced in mid-November that a Walmart and a Lowe’s Home Improvement store are eyeing side-by-side locations at the community’s north end, on the west side of Seminole Pratt, across from the Minto Communities sales center. Minto owns the land and is the city’s primary developer.
Langowski emphasized that nothing related to either store has been brought before the council, but that if Minto sells the property, which is already zoned commercial, and Walmart wants to locate in Westlake, there is little, if anything, the council can do about it.
“People see Lowe’s differently,” Langowski said, “but a lot of people don’t want a Walmart in their backyard.”
Acreage resident Lisa Johnson said she was concerned about the impact a Walmart might have on small businesses already located in Westlake, and those that might be considering it.
Cassel said a Walmart would have a significant positive impact on the city’s commercial tax base but agreed that “it’s a two-edged sword.”
“Like any major commercial business locating in an area, [a Walmart] may or may not have an impact on what’s already here,” he said.
Councilman Julian Martinez said he has concerns about potential problems with traffic, overcrowding and aesthetics with two “big box stores” located in close proximity to each other. He asked Cassel to look into whether it might be possible to change the city code to require more distance between such outlets.
In other business, the council unanimously approved a request to modify the site plan for the Grove Market shopping plaza to accommodate the departure of the 52,145-square-foot Winn-Dixie supermarket and liquor store and the arrival in 2025 of a 28,594-square-foot Aldi supermarket and two unspecified future retail tenants occupying the remainder of the space on either side of the grocery.
Aldi, the Germany-based international grocery giant, completed its purchase of the Winn-Dixie supermarket chain earlier this year. On Nov. 19, Aldi announced that the Winn-Dixie at 5060 Seminole Pratt Whitney Road would be among the stores converted to an Aldi.
The company emphasizes keeping prices low through smaller stores, plain décor, fewer name brands and more house brands. Aldi markets do not offer a deli, bakery or butcher counter.
An Aldi representative told the council, “We’re not looking to bring in something different [from other Aldi stores]. It’ll be the same concept. We offer lower-priced groceries by working really, really hard to cut out the fat… and the extra frills that people don’t necessarily want.”
Winn-Dixie will close in January. The conversion to Aldi is expected to take several months.
An Aldi store is already located in Loxahatchee Groves at the northeast corner of the intersection of Southern Blvd. and B Road. There is also one on State Road 7 in Royal Palm Beach, in front of an industrial complex that houses Aldi’s regional distribution warehouse.
