6NEWS

WAXHAW - By law, town leaders needed just one reason to vote no to prevent a Wal-Mart Supercenter from moving in. The leader found two reasons.

In the end, a Wal-Mart Supercenter was going to make a bad traffic problem worse.

"That's my concern, the traffic,” said commissioner David Barnes.

"I always come back to the traffic,” said commissioner Joyce Blythe. She said fire trucks and ambulances would have a harder time getting around and people don’t want to lose a quick response time.

Plus, there would be 500 extra cars an hour on a two-lane road with tractor-trailer trucks and cars using the same entrance.

"That, folks, is a nightmare waiting to happen,” she said.

That’s why Waxhaw town commissioners voted no. Lack of harmony with its surroundings is another. "It just doesn't fit,” Barnes said.

The Wal-Mart would have been five times larger than your average grocery store. "There's not another store this huge."

Wal-Mart said it worked hard to fit in with historic Waxhaw's architecture.

"We thought we had done that here. I think traffic concerns just trumped everything else,” said Wal-Mart spokesperson Tara Stewart.

Some neighbors wanted Wal-Mart's low prices. Others needed its jobs.

"We're afraid that tonight the people that really lost are the working families from Waxhaw,” Stewart said.

Instead, Tuesday night came the words so many waited years to hear: "Permit denied."

Wal-Mart said it's too early to tell if they'll appeal Tuesday night's decision in court. The retail giant says it does not have its eyes on any other piece of land in Waxhaw and other options presented to it didn't meet its demands for a super-center.