Ellisville's District 2 Wants Walmart to Stay Out

A door-to-door opinion poll taken in Ellisville's District 2 revealed 71 percent of responding residents do not want to see a Walmart in the city.

Volunteers for the conducted the poll, knocking on 1,165 doors in the district which would be directly affected by the Sansone Group's Walmart proposal, generating 560 responses. The project has developed controversy and headaches for city officials and residents alike, launching the formation of the A9A in opposition of the Walmart development.

The A9A has taken lengths asking for and exploring options to nix the TIF proposal. Poll results were released from A9A Chair, Liz Schmidt.

The conditional use permit for the Walmart is on the agenda for this week's Ellisville City Council meeting. 

“If Linda Reel and Troy Pieper vote for this conditional use permit, they will not be representing the people of their district who made their opposition to a Walmart TIF more than clear with a super majority," said Phil Carney, who organized the polling effort. 

The poll question asked was: “Should the City Council vote for granting the developer a conditional use permit?”

Out of the 560 responses, 396 said "No," 101 said "Yes" and 63 were undecided.

The A9A statement released attributed TIF usage, the demolition of Clarkchester Apartments, property value and quality of resident life, traffic congestion and a threat to small businesses as reasons residents voiced against Walmart.