Bill Lecos, president of the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce, opposed the new regs. The uncertainty of gaining approval could scare off potential new businesses, particularly in shopping centers that need revitalization. That’s a valid point, I think, but not a compelling one. There are countervailing considerations.
As foes of the big boxes rightly point out, Wal-Marts, Targets and other giganzo stores draw from vast market areas. People drive greater distances and place more strain on the transportation infrastructure when patronizing the big boxes than when patronizing neighborhood stores near their homes. Now, there’s nothing wrong with offering lower prices made possible by economies of scale — unless you expect someone else to pay the costs imposed by the traffic congestion caused by those economies of scale.
That’s the problem. Some of the efficiencies and “cost savings” achieved by the big boxes are illusory. Rather than creating genuine efficiencies, the big boxes are externalizing their costs to motorists at large (or to taxpayers at large, if they’re expected to upgrade the transportation infrastructure).
Every big box store should be required to submit a traffic impact analysis (maybe they are in Fairfax County, and I just don’t know about it). If the local road network is overloaded (which seems to be the case throughout most of the county), I find it entirely reasonable for Fairfax supervisors to require some kind of proffer, offset or design change as compensation for the costs imposed upon the public.
