Baxter City Council: Walmart drive-thru for grocery pickup gets green light

Wednesday, Community Development Director Josh Doty said a concern with the design was the potential for traffic backing up into Isle Drive. One of the conditions the city applied to the approval included a guarantee from Walmart there would not be an overlap of scheduled pickups.

"To ensure vehicles do not end up staging in the drive (aisle), Walmart will manage pickup scheduling so that there is no overlap of scheduled pickups," the city noted, adding the city may revoke the conditional use permit "if the drive (aisle) becomes congested to a point where it is deemed a safety and public welfare issue."

Revocation may only come after the city issues a written warning from its zoning administrator and after Walmart has 30 days to address each warning and respond appropriately. If Walmart fails to respond within the 30 days, the city council may address the issue, levy fines or revoke the permit.

The council unanimously approved the permit and variance.

Among other conditions, the city called for replacement of the southerly most three of four deciduous or leafy trees with pine trees to provide added screening to the drive-thru.

This spring, Walmart announced plans to spend an estimated $35 million over the next year on 10 stores in Minnesota for upgrades and consumer innovations, including the store in Baxter. The spending is part of Walmart's total capital expenditures guidance of about $11 billion for fiscal year 2019.

Walmart stated it was adding online grocery pickup, a Mobile Express Scan & Go—which allows customers to scan and bag items while they shop and pay directly from their phones without waiting in line at the register—and Pickup Towers, or a kiosk where customers can pick up online orders from the tower using a barcode sent to their smartphone.

In a separate issue, the council approved amending the city ordinance related to year-round outdoor displays after Walmart wanted to relocate a propane exchange cage to a new location and the city had no provision on how to deal with such a display. The amended ordinance allows the display for items like propane or windshield washer fluid with a maximum space of 10 percent of the principal building.

When council members Todd Holman and Mark Cross asked about displays for Christmas trees, bicycles and Adirondack chairs, Doty said those were seasonal items, which the city has had requests for previously but this is for a permanent display and comes with limitations. The planning commission also recommended approval.

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