They will. They know the cost of submission, and they know how to break opposition.
The opposition does not understand what they're up against. Wal-Mart now consumes 10% of China's exports to the U.S. and 1% of China's GDP. Got that? A full 1% of the entire revenue of 1,313,973,713 people comes from ONE COMPANY - WAL-MART. They know the game, and with 6601 stores they won't hesitate to shut down 1 store to say "no, it's not our job to ensure everyone gets a 'living wage'."
I've heard that Wal-Mart controls something like HALF the shelf space of all the major consumer brands in the US.
If they wanted to mount a counter-offensive against this city council, it could get ugly.
My guess is that they will delay building first and appeal this decision, eventually to the federal level.
Wasn't there a recent decision in their favor in Maryland on a similar kind of thing?