WAL-MART OK’D IN LANCASTER, NY DESPITE LABOR CONCERNS

Wal-Mart gets OK in Lancaster [Buffalo News (N.Y.)]

Lancaster’s Town Board gave its approval to a Wal-Mart on Monday by the barest of margins — voting, 3-2, in favor of a site plan for the 150,228-square-foot “superstore.”

Voting against the plan were Councilwoman Donna G. Stempniak and Councilman John Abraham, who both said they objected to the Wal-Mart on philosophical grounds.

“I don’t like Wal-Mart. I’m against their labor practices. And I don’t believe we should have a Wal-Mart in Lancaster,” Stempniak told The Buffalo News at the conclusion of Monday’s meeting.

She had shepherded the site plan resolution through the town approval process without letting her feelings about the new store be known publicly until after the Monday’s roll-call vote.

Two weeks ago, Stempniak and others on the Town Board unanimously agreed to pull the measure off the table to include additional protective language for residents who live near the new Wal-Mart. The store is to be built near the northeast corner of William Street and Transit Road behind Applebee’s restaurant at 4967 Transit, across from a Wegmans store.

After the meeting, Abraham echoed Stempniak’s concerns and added some of his own.

“I struggled with my vote on this one,” he said. “I know it’s good businesswise for the town, but there are issues with traffic that trouble me. In going door to door and talking with residents, there are many who feel the same way I do.”

Wal-Mart has agreed to numerous conditions regulating everything from loading dock deliveries and truck access to the visual shielding of air-conditioning units

on the store’s roof.

Buffer areas and a berm planted with conifer trees and topped by a fence will shield neighbors from store operations. Only a handful of residents spoke on the Wal-Mart resolution during the public commentary portion of the meeting, and none expressed strong objections to the site plan.

Northwood Drive resident Lee Chowaniec asked several questions about landscaping and tree replacement but otherwise thanked the board for its protective efforts on behalf of residents.

In other business, the Town Board:

• Approved an open-container ordinance, sponsored by Councilman Ronald Ruffino Sr. The ordinance makes it a crime for people to carry open bottles, cans or other receptacles containing alcoholic beverages in public. The law does not apply to picnics, fairs or other community gatherings in Lancaster for which the people involved have been granted a permit.

• Voted to spend $32,000 for a special commemorative bell that is to be installed in Westwood Park’s clock tower as part of the town’s 175th anniversary celebration. Because of time constraints, the bell will be paid for with town funds that will be reimbursed later by grant money, according to Supervisor Robert H. Giza.

Posted by Joel Nezianya on Tuesday, July 22, 2008

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