VERMONT SITE FIGHT: WAL-MART SITE PLAN REVIEWED TONIGHT

Wal-Mart site plan reviewed tonight [Brattleboro (Vt.) Reformer]

HINSDALE, N.H.—The Planning Board will hold a public hearing tonight to consider Wal-Mart’s major site plan application for an expanded superstore.

Wal-Mart plans to replace its existing store on George’s Field with a 195,000 square foot store north of the Hinsdale Greyhound Park.

The board held an informal design review hearing last month, during which board members and the public were given an opportunity to raise questions and concerns about the project with its engineers.

Tonight’s development review hearing will be more formal and could result in the board signing off on the project. It could also request additional information from the company or mandate “peer review” by a town-hired engineer.

“It does look very much in order,” town administrator Jill Collins said of the plans, which are available to the public at the Community Development office at Town Hall.

“It looks like they’ve really done their homework with respect to our zoning ordinances,” she said.

Bohler Engineering of Southborough, Mass., submitted detailed site plans to the town, outlining landscaping, sewer, lighting, soil erosion and sedimentation plans. A 59-page traffic plan compiled by Greenman Pedersen, Inc., is also available at Town Hall.

Collins said the target date for the store’s opening is December 2008.

A Wal-Mart spokesman could not be reached for comment. Planning Board members cannot comment on pending reviews.

Tonight’s meeting will begin at 6:50 p.m. at the Community Center on 19 Main St. The Community Development office is open from 8 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4 p.m. today.

Posted by Beth Gostanian on Tuesday, July 17, 2007