WEST CHESTER TWP. — A hard-hitting public relations campaign unleashed by one developer against another has surprised residents.

        But veterans of campaigns like the “mall war” being waged here say such bare-knuckles tactics are common nationally and in Europe.

PROPOSED MALLS

• The Avenue of West Chester: Cousins Properties Inc. of Atlanta envisions 215,000 square feet of upscale retail on 26 acres owned by Schumacher Dugan Construction at Union Centre Boulevard and Muhlhauser Road.     • The Streets of West Chester: Columbus-based Continental Retail Development plans a $100 million multiuse development by next spring at Interstate 75 and Union Centre Boulevard. It would include a hotel, luxury apartments and condos, and retail and office space.     • Voice of America Centre: Midland Atlantic Properties of Kenwood is building a 500,000-square-foot discount mall with anchors Target and Biggs at Tylersville and Cox roads.     • West Chester Market Square: Steiner & Associates of Columbus is teaming with Evendale-based Neyer Properties on the 1 million-square-foot project on 75 acres at I-75 and Cincinnati-Dayton Road.

        A 17-page battle plan recently obtained by The Cincinnati Enquirer explains the strategy for a Columbus developer that spread suggestions that a rival project would lead to traffic gridlock and adult businesses.

        “We propose to identify and "stir' a handful of opponents by communicating messages that will elicit negatives and positives along parallel tracks,” the campaign plan reads. “Our battle-tested programs will allow us to generate a "mob mentality' which can disassemble even the best-planned development.”

        Continental Retail Development of Columbus had thousands of brochures mailed to West Chester homes while pollsters phoned residents asking for their input on Continental's development and their rival's, Steiner & Associates, also of Columbus.

        An Internet site also was launched; activities were done in the name of a group called “West Chester Watch.”

        The intent was to stir residential opponents, who would then pressure elected officials to deny zoning for a competing project.

        Industry watchers say developers around the country and in Europe started using such campaigns in the mid-1990s, as they sunk unprecedented millions into competing suburban shopping mall projects, even though there weren't enough retailers to fill them.

        Critics say the campaigns often rely on insinuation, scare tactics and stealth.

        “The key to all this is keeping it invisible,” said John Stauber, founder and president of PR Watch in Madison, Wis., and co- author of the books Trust Us, We're Experts and Toxic Sludge is Good For You.

        “It's supposed to look like genuine democracy; real citizens organizing themselves at grass roots to determine what goes on in their communities,” he said. “But it's really big business and money manipulating the system by creating these Astroturf groups to line their own pockets.”

        But Ian James, president of The Strategy Network Inc. of Columbus, which wrote the battle plan for Continental, maintains it is legal, truthful and routinely done. He works primarily in Ohio and the Midwest and counts among his past clients retail giants such as Meijer and Home Depot.

        “In today's world, a handful of opponents can stop even the best of developments,” The Strategy Network says on its Web site. “That is why more companies and developers are turning to The Strategy Network ... to unleash massive (campaigns) in virtually any city in the nation — often within hours — to gain support from elected opponents, neighbors and out-maneuver development opponents during the most heated battles.”

        When told some find his practices ethically questionable, Mr. James replied: “Everybody's entitled to their opinion no matter how wrong they are.”

        But he did maintain that most of his campaigns — 95 percent — are positive, not negative.

        “These folks may not like the tactics but, you know, some people didn't like television when it came out,” Mr. James said in a phone interview from Columbus. “People want to be a part of the public discussion and that's what is really important. We provide information to allow people to decide what is in their community's best interest, whether they decide they want to accept it or not.”

        The day after the West Chester campaign was exposed by the Enquirer as Continental's, Continental President David Kass publicly apologized, took down the Web site, and pledged not to send out more brochures.

        Both Continental and Steiner envision building complexes that mix retail, movie theaters, and residential units in this prosperous township strategically located along Interstate 75. Steiner's development, West Chester Market Square, is on Cincinnati-Dayton Road one highway exit north of Continental's project, The Streets of West Chester. on Union Centre Boulevard,

        The mall war, however, is wearing thin on some residents. One couple called police twice last week on a man collecting petition signatures outside the township's post office and a grocery store.

        Phil Burress, president of the anti-pornography Citizens for Community Values, said he was offended because he felt the strategy tried to take advantage of his organization's efforts.

        “(The claim that one of the projects would encourage adult businesses) was a scare tactic,” Mr. Burress said. “The brochure totally misrepresented the township's zoning license and regulations laws. We had a strip club open in a motel in that area about seven years ago and the township shut it down in three weeks.

        Steiner's request for a conditional use permit to build the movie theater will be voted on at the township's Board of Zoning Appeals at a 7 p.m. meeting Wednesday.

        In a May 30 letter to members of the Board of Zoning Appeals, Brian Elliff, the township's planning and zoning director, asks them to ignore the strategy because it is “disinformation” sought to “mislead and inflame the public, sway opinion and, ultimately, to influence” the variance request.

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