Duluth’s Zoning Board of Appeals convened Wednesday night with little to do but a lot of people watching.

Nearly every seat in the small City Hall was filled by a man, woman or child in red, carrying a “Stop Wal-Mart” placard or flier. They’d been out in force in front of City Hall before the meeting, waving down passing cars and handing out fliers.

Wal-Mart’s proposed Supercenter on Peachtree Industrial Boulevard was supposed to have been the evening’s main attraction.

But the retailer’s requests for variances from city design codes ”” which had been rescheduled twice since June ”” were withdrawn completely on Friday. […]