Wal-Mart Pushing Expansion Plans
Daily Hampshire Gazette, October 8, 2007

HADLEY - Whether Wal-Mart will be able to eventually build a 212,000-square-foot Supercenter store at the Hampshire Mall could hinge on getting a commercial subdivision plan approved by town planners later this month.

The Planning Board is slated to hold a hearing Oct. 16 at 7:30 p.m. on the definitive commercial subdivision plans for Westgate Center Drive and Hampshire Mall Way filed by Pyramid Corp., the owner of the mall.

The issue for the developers is that the town in May 2006, by a 139-45 vote, approved the Compatible Building Size Bylaw, which imposed a size cap of 75,000 square feet on all retail businesses. But because the developers submitted preliminary subdivision plans in April 2006, they will be exempt from this cap for another eight years so long as the definitive commercial subdivision plans are approved by the Planning Board.

For David Elvin, a critic of the large-scale project who is a member of Hadley Neighbors for Sensible Development, Pyramid's repeated requests for extensions and delays in holding a hearing may have cost it this 'grandfathering' right. Elvin points out that state statutes governing subdivisions require a decision on a subdivision to made within a 'reasonable length of time

'I think they've violated this reasonable length of time,' Elvin said. 'To me, a year and a half and five postponements of the definitive subdivision hearings is not reasonable.'

Christopher Buchanan, a spokesman for Wal-Mart, said the company has been advised that Pyramid, as the developer, is entitled to have the freeze on zoning.

'Our attorneys concluded that the mall owner had properly filed the necessary plans with the Planning Board for a subdivision,' Buchanan said. 'As you may know, the state statute governing subdivision provides that if you file for a subdivision, you then have essentially eight years to do the necessary planning, permitting and construction based on the zoning in effect when the subdivision was filed.'

If approved, the grandfathering would apply for eight more years, presumably giving Wal-Mart, which first announced its plans in spring 2005, enough time to work around wetlands issues on the property that have stymied the project. The wetlands issues came to the forefront in early 2006 when the Conservation Commission ruled that a detention basin holding runoff from the mall's parking lot should be considered a wetland.

Wal-Mart has also faced delays as a draft environmental impact report filed with the Department of Energy and Environmental Affairs in May was rejected as not being in compliance with the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act.

While Town Meeting voters in May 2006 understood that Wal-Mart would be exempt from the size cap, and thus be allowed to build its Supercenter, Elvin said this should no longer be the case.

'In a sense, they haven't kept up their end of the bargain on the grandfathering deal,' Elvin said.

Buchanan disagrees. 'As you can see from the last few years, because development in Massachusetts is so complex and there is so much permitting to do, the Legislature decided that such a freeze on zoning changes is appropriate,' Buchanan said.

Though there is no timetable for opening a Supercenter in Hadley, which would replace a smaller Wal-Mart at Mountain Farms Mall, Buchanan said Wal-Mart remains committed to bringing the larger store to the Route 9 corridor.

Other projects

Meanwhile, wetlands issues that continue to face both the proposed Home Depot store and Lowe's home improvement center will be addressed at the Conservation Commission Oct. 16.

Conservation Commission Chairwoman Alexandra Dawson said the Department of Environmental Protection and Army Corps of Engineers have determined that a stream that runs through the proposed Home Depot site, at the corner of Route 9 and North Maple Street, cannot be moved. This overrules an earlier commission decision allowing the moving of the stream.

Because of this, Dawson said developer Gator Pearson of West Springfield has had to make changes in the plans for both the Home Depot and an adjacent Hadley Corner shopping center, scaling back about 100,000 square feet of development from what was originally a 323,000-square-foot project.

'We will decide whether we like their new plan, and whether we find it acceptable,' Dawson said.

Development on the Home Depot site, which began in fall 2005, was shut down by the Department of Environmental Protection in spring 2006 for various wetlands violations. Dawson said there is a slight chance that work on the project may be able to resume again before winter.

The commission is also being told by state officials that there are more wetlands on the Route 9 site next to the Long Hollow Bison Farm where Lowe's wants to build a 144,000-square-foot store. Dawson said none of these new wetlands are close to the store.

Lowe's, however, still faces a Land Court lawsuit in which Shutesbury attorney Michael Pill maintains the Planning Board in June 2006 overstepped its authority, made an arbitrary and capricious decision, was on legally untenable ground and failed to make adequate findings when it granted site plan approval for the store.