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Wednesday, 21 June 2006 04:57 |
| Alan Johnson
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By MEEGAN KELLY
The Buncombe County Board of Adjustment granted Wal-Mart permission to build a supercenter on Airport Road in a unanimous decision last Wednesday. However, the proposal was approved with various conditions to protect the area.
Prior to the decision, the seven-member board, appointed by
commissioners, heard arguments both in favor and in opposition of the
retailer??s proposal. In addition, Wal-Mart representative Alan Johnson
of Freeland and Kauffman, the firm developing the property for
Wal-Mart, gave an overview of the development proposal and presented
findings from studies conducted to determine the impact the planned
Wal-Mart would have on the community.
On behalf of Wal-Mart, Johnson spoke to ensure the board that ?®all
standards in the county ordinance have been met?∆ and that the project
would have a ?®positive influence in Buncombe County.?∆
The board considered key issues, such as traffic congestion, light
pollution, increase of crime, possible impact on on-site wetlands and
the consequences for adjacent residential property.
The project has a goal of ?®no net loss of wetlands,?∆ Johnson said, even
though they have been described as ?®heavily disturbed due to soil
compaction, erosion and stormwater run-off.?∆
The board expressed concern about environmental impact and other
issues, wondering what percentage of the wetlands would be altered by
this project.
Mike Ranks, another associate from Freeland and Kauffman, addressed the question specifically.
?®There are
roughly 1.95 acres of wetland being impacted,?∆ said Johnson, about 75
percent of the 2.6 acres of wetland at the site. Ranks said they plan
to talk with a creative wetlands consultant in the future and have
saved approximately 1 to 1.5 acres of property to create new wetlands,
depending on the topography.
Johnson assured the board that the wetlands are critical to Wal-Mart
and it does not want to interfere with them in any way. If the wetland
acreage is reduced, the board will require the company to seek further
approval.
Another board member asked if there would be any difference between
this and a normal Wal-Mart. ?®What I??m looking for is that there are no
surprises,?∆ he said.
?®Every site is different and every ordinance is different. Everything
is different but we feel this is a good product,?∆ Johnson said.
Certainly not everyone that attended felt that the new Wal-Mart was a
?®good product.?∆ Opposition came from residents who live near the
proposed site. Keith Johnson, executive director of Lutheridge and
Lutherock Ministries and a 13-year resident, spoke on behalf of the
residents and visitors of Lutheridge, located across Airport Road.
?®They have an impressive team of experts here. I am a team of one. We
don??t have access to the kinds of professional resources they do, but
we do have four major areas of concern. They are sight, sound, safety
and security,?∆ Johnson said.
Lutheridge, built in 1946, is collectively owned by 800 Lutheran
congregations serving between 15,000 and 18,000 guests each year,
Johnson said. The Lutheridge facility operates week-long youth summer
camps and programs for families and the mentally challenged.
Johnson said visitors often like to sit around a campfire or worship
together outside and the noise and light would have adverse effects on
that environment.
?®We have no philosophical objection to Wal-Mart, but we would like to
be part of this process. We don??t want Lutheridge to be impacted
greater than any other neighbor.?∆
The board requested that Wal-Mart communicate its plans to all neighbors and hold a meeting with Lutheridge specifically.
Another Lutheridge resident, Robert Dasher, spoke in opposition to the supercenter.
?®I am concerned that you, as a board, make sure that any entity you
approve is not going to have a negative impact. I think the development
on Airport Road is inevitable, but I don??t believe that Wal-Mart is the
unit that should be chosen because of it??s magnitude.?∆ Dasher added
that the wetlands comments were ?®right on ... the environment there is
hanging by a loose thread.?∆
?®I want my great grandchildren to be able to breathe,?∆ Dasher said.
Cynthia Frey, another resident off Bradley Branch Road, was concerned
that the shipping and receiving operation would bring Wal-Mart trucks
through her neighborhood.
?®How are they going to get their 18-wheelers into Wal-Mart??∆ Frey asked.
The proposed 204,000-square-foot site includes 917 parking stalls, two
entrances, five-foot sidewalks on the west side of the property for
pedestrian access and two storm water management facilities.
Clay Mooney, a landscape architect who is not working on the project,
noted that in the past, development schemes for retail space at the
same site had been as large as 380,000 square feet.
No date has been set for construction to begin.
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