My 2 Cents: Battle Over Walmart May Head To Oklahoma Supreme Court

Can a city, in this case Edmond, decide which businesses can be built and where?

Sounds simple on the surface, of course Edmond leaders should be able to decide that, but a new store may be built in a mainly residential area despite many neighbors and the city council rejecting it.

We told you a little earlier in the newscast that the Edmond City Council has twice in court lost its fight to block some landowners from Walmart Neighborhood Market grocery store from being built at Covell and Coltrane.

I don't have a dog in this fight, don't even live in Edmond, and I'm not anti-Walmart either.

Two judges have found that the Walmart Market plan for the land, which was zoned for retail use more than 20 years ago, meets all of the code requirements.

What bothers me is that the court ruled that Edmond leaders were arbitrary and unreasonable in voting against the Neighborhood Market. 

It doesn't seem unreasonable for the neighbors in the area to be concerned about the increased traffic on currently two-lane roads, also about a 24 hour store being lit up right next to their houses in what has always been a quiet rural part of town.

Don't we elect our city leaders to maintain community standards and each community is unique, what's deemed arbitrary in one might be of critical importance to the residents of another community.

I'm Kelly Ogle and that's My 2 Cents.