Walmart Gets a Stern Warning on Storage

The Christmas season is merely weeks away if you're a major retailer like Walmart, so despite the storage in store, the influx of merchandise requires temporary outside trailers to help hold all of it.

However a request from Walmart Tuesday night to keep about three such trailers outside from October 1 to December 31 brought back unpleasant memories for the Plan Commission, which was obviously frustrated that the retailer didn't foresee the need when it was first being built.

Public outcry against the construction of the store in 2007 placed the Plan Commission in the position of making sure Walmart toed the line when it came to its use of the site. Some commissioners saw this latest request as an instance where they were trying to move that line yet again.

Earlier this year, Walmart asked for into part of the parking lot despite already having an enclosure to feature such products.

In addition, the fact that Walmart had already been keeping the storage trailers and was called on it previously had the commissioners less than receptive, especially as store manager Zeke Radovanovic said that all stores use them every Christmas season.

"I'll be blunt here - we took it on the chin when we were trying to move Walmart through the process and took great pains to make sure the architecture and the screenings were done correctly so we wouldn't have an issue with this," said commissioner Mark Noah. "You learned of this last year and it was a violation or at least not a part of the BSO then. I'm not going to approve this...I want a screening wall to cover this up."

Commissioner Chris Buckmaster echoed the sentiment.

"Is this going to be a common occurence? Are there going to be trailers needed for Christmas, Easter, Halloween? This was not included in the original building, site and operation plan (BSO), and although it's a temporary need, I have to wonder if all the stores need them, why no one thought to include them when we were having these discussions years ago," he said.

Noah and others agreed that at the very least Walmart should work on a proposal to screen the trailers from view. The ones proposed are approximately 10x20x8' and would be stored on the store's east side. Other structures, such as electrical boxes and loading docks, have such screening in place already.

Radovanovic said that the only request for trailers from the company was for the Christmas time period, and stores aren't built to accommodate the temporary increase in merchandise. He explained the trailers seen earlier were because of "leftover residential items from the year before."

Radovanovic, who has been a Walmart manager for the past 15 years, was with the Muskego store for about a year and said he couldn't address what had happened before. 

Alderman Dan Soltysiak, who serves as a commissioner as well, felt the visibility of the trailers to the general public wouldn't be an issue this year, but asked that a long term solution be made as the area is likely to see more business and traffic.

"I don't know how bad three trailers like this will be stacked next to each other, and I know all big box retailers use them. I will likely vote in favor of this tonight, but you know now what the concerns are. You have a whole year to work that out. I feel we should be OK for this year, with the understanding that we will need to take care of things for next year, especially as the area gets developed."

Ultimately the proposal was approved, with Noah and Buckmaster voting against it. City planner Jeff Muenkel was also asked to ensure that the requirement for screening was communicated to Walmart going forward.