The Orton Family foundation has released the Big

The Orton Family foundation has released the Big Box Evaluator, a free tool “designed to help communities and individuals learn about the impacts of big-box stores.” People in communities that want to evaluate proposed big-box developments can select the type of town resembling their own, identify the kind of development being proposed, and then enter specific information and personal values in four categories — economic, environmental, societal, and visual. The tool generates information about projected municipal costs and revenues, change in average wages, and annual price savings per family.