VERMONT SITE FIGHT: SUPERSTORE UNDER REVIEW

Wal-Mart superstore under review [Brattleboro (Vt.) Reformer]

HINSDALE, N.H.—The Planning Board voted unanimously Tuesday night to send Wal-Mart’s proposed superstore site plan to Underwood Engineers, Inc. for peer review.
The board will continue its development review hearing next month after Underwood reviews the plan and discusses any problems with Bohler Engineering, the firm hired by Wal-Mart to design the site plan.

Underwood will ensure the proposed 198,000-square-foot store conforms to local and state guidelines. The firm is often called in by the town to review projects of this size.

Separately, the owner of George’s Field—the site where an existing 105,000-square-foot Wal-Mart sits—said after the hearing that she is close to signing a lease termination agreement with the company. She also said the building may have to be torn down and replaced with smaller buildings because no other owner could make full use of it.

“The most important thing is lease termination, so I can start marketing the property and get other tenants in there,” Deborah George said. “I think, ultimately, that building is going to have to come down. I don’t think there’s anybody who could fully use the box without leaving half of it vacant.”

Wal-Mart’s lease of the George’s Field location lasts until 2017, and the company has three 10-year options to extend it.

George said the tentative agreement would allow her to lease the space to another company 60 days after Wal-Mart moves to the proposed location. She said Wal-Mart plans to make the move in June 2009.

George previously expressed reservations about the new superstore because she worried her building would “go dark” after it is vacated by Wal-Mart. With the signing of this agreement, however, she said she fully supports the construction of the superstore.

Members of the planning board and the public had another opportunity at Tuesday’s hearing to question Wal-Mart’s consultants about the site plan. Most of the discussion centered around traffic issues, as well as lighting, landscaping, sewage and parking.

Many of the concerns raised at the hearing echoed similar issues discussed at last month’s design review hearing. Bohler project manager Stephen DeCoursey said comments from previous public meetings were considered and integrated into an updated plan.

Neighbors of the proposed store, which is planned for an unoccupied area north of the Hinsdale Greyhound Park, asked how a new traffic signal at the store’s entrance might impede their ability to leave their driveways.

But Greenman Pedersen traffic consultant Rebecca Brown assured them they would have to wait no more than 35 seconds to exit their properties.

Brown argued that, overall, new traffic generated by the expansion and relocation would not be significant. She said most of the impact would be felt on Route 119 between the new and the old stores.

A proposed change to the existing traffic signal outside of George’s Field, however, raised significant protest from George. Brown said the timing of the signal would be tweaked so that the light would shift more quickly when cars are not waiting to turn.

George argued that the signal is working fine as it is, and any change could impede traffic flow to any store that might replace Wal-Mart on George’s Field.

“Words like ‘tweaking’ concern me,” George said. “I don’t want that change. The idea is to keep that viable to keep you viable.”

After heated debate between George and Greenman Pedersen consultants, the board moved on because any decision on the matter is, ultimately, the responsibility of the state Department of Transportation.

Board members expressed concern that Wal-Mart would use some of the proposed 972 parking spaces to house storage containers and host outdoor sales. They also questioned how the store would deal with snow removal.

“I would hope that as a new store and a super center, you’d want it to look nicer than the current one does,” said Selectwoman Kathy Stephens, who also sits on the planning board.

DeCoursey said Bohler would consider those concerns and all others raised by the public. He said the firm was eager to work with Underwood on the project so that it can move forward.

“We’re interested in trying to work with them as quickly as possible,” he said.