The battle over painting the Wal-Mart in Canyon is heating up again, with the Canyon City Commission set to discuss the item during their upcoming meeting on Monday.

The issue has been brewing for more than two decades now, as the location began winding its way through the approval process in 2003. At that point, there was concern over the store being a “Blue Box,” according to city officials.

An agreement to have the store painted tan and brown was worked out to alleviate concerns. According to a developer agreement, Wal-Mart would require approval from the city before making changes to the exterior.

However, according to city officials, in 2018, the building began to be repainted with blue paint without approval. “They had already painted the majority of the building before City Manager Randy Criswell could get hold of anyone with authority,” according to a memo from current Canyon City Manager Joe Price.

With the cost to go back to the original colors being estimated at $85,000 to $95,000, the city did not press the location to revert to the old color scheme. However, the city stressed to Wal-Mart that it could not make further changes without approval per the development agreement.

More recently, the city has alleged that Wal-Mart again began repainting without city approval. According to City Manager Joe Price, the city reached out to the contractor asking for the project to be halted “until the issues with the colors could be worked out.” As of writing, the building has had white primer painted on it.

Canyon City Commission will meet on Monday, June 8th at 4:30 pm to discuss and potentially take action on the issue. The full agenda for the meeting can be found at this link.