Stoughton Fast-Tracking Subsidy For Wal-Mart

[Update - - Seems the good people of Stoughton have said "No Wal-Mart TIF."] Imagine you are a Mom-and-Pop business owner in picturesque, downtown Stoughton.

You know that Wal-Mart stores historically drain customers from traditional, Main Street shops, then suddenly you learn that Stoughton city officials want to quickly give Wal-Mart, with all its billions, more than $5 million in local tax revenues to build a giant Supercenter store sprawled at the edge of town.

And will employ workers at low wages, driving some of them to publicly-subsidized health insurance, too.

Under a development plan the Mayor apparently supports.

I suspect various forecasters will begin tracking The Stoughton Vortex. 

The Cap Times reports some early storm warnings:

Plans for the Supercenter at the recently annexed Kettle Park Commercial Center were announced only two weeks ago, sparking criticism about how the deal was made...

The Wal-Mart opponents have set up a petition so others opposing Wal-Mart's plans can weigh in.

Interesting, also, that a planned Wal-Mart is again running into trouble at the Pabst Farms development in Western Waukesha County, with some opponents worried that the store would hurt nearby downtown Oconomwoc. 

Plans for an upscale Pabst Farms mall repeatedly fell through, though WisDOT juggled construction budgets to spent millions on a gaudy full-diamond interchange to help deliver customers and residents to Pabst Farms properties. 

So if Stoughton were to get its Wal-Mart sprawl, would a taxpayer-paid bypass or big access road be next?

That's the Wisconsin formula.