Walmart Act 250 plan filed
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By PATRICK McARDLE Herald Staff - Published: January 14, 2009
BENNINGTON — After months of inactivity, the developer planning to build an expanded, 112,000-square-foot Walmart on Northside Drive filed an application for an Act 250 permit with the state's Agency of Natural Resources on Monday.
District 8 Environmental Commission Coordinator Warren Foster said the application "starts the clock" for the Act 250 process. Foster said he hopes to have the first pre-hearing for the application scheduled sometime in February. The hearing must be scheduled within 40 days of Monday, when Foster received the application.
The first hearing is likely to include a project overview and a determination of who will be given party status in future hearings.
Developer Jonathan Levy of Redstone Construction in Tampa, Fla., plans to demolish the 51,000-square-foot Walmart on Northside Drive in Bennington. Levy owns the shopping plaza that also includes a Price Chopper supermarket.
Cross Consulting Engineers of St. Albans filed for an Act 250 permit in May, but Foster said he found the permit substantially incomplete because much of the information was several years old. A traffic study submitted with the application was prepared in 2005.
Foster asked for more information before scheduling a hearing, but the application submitted this week still relies on the 2005 traffic study.
"I suppose I could send out another letter, but applicants do their best to submit a complete application. It doesn't have to be perfect. The (Act 250) commission will decide if they need more information. It's our intention to get these hearings started," he said.
The expansion of the Walmart in Bennington has been a controversial project. The Bennington Select Board had attempted to limit the size of big-box stores by imposing a 75,000-square-feet cap on retail stores in the commercial sector of town. But residents who wanted the larger Walmart circulated petitions which forced a special election in April 2005 during which the cap was rejected 2,189 to 1,724.
In 2006, the town's Development Review Board granted local permits for the store expansion, but both the developer and grass-roots group, the Citizens for a Greater Bennington, appealed the decision.
The town, the developer and the citizens' group, represented by the Vermont Natural Resources Council, participated in mediation, as required by the Vermont Environmental Court, in Arlington in June.
A report from the mediator, submitted with the latest Act 250 application, said the town and the developer had resolved their differences but the citizens' group and the developer had not.
Bennington Planning Director and Zoning Administrator Daniel Monks pointed out that while issues seemed to be resolved in June, the settlement had not been presented to or approved by the Select Board.
Monks said on Tuesday he had not had a chance to review the extensive application thoroughly.
Foster said he believed the Environmental Court's decision on the appeal of the local permits was on hold. Because the Act 250 decision is likely to be appealed as well, the Environmental Court will attempt to consolidate the appeals, according to Foster.
The Act 250 application contains little new information about the proposed store or its targeted construction date. A project description said "construction is anticipated to start as soon as all permits are received."
The application includes color artists' renderings of the expanded store's appearance.
Forster said the state had a new policy of posting applications on the Internet. The Walmart application could be available, as soon as today, by visiting the Web site www.anr.state.vt.us/site/cfm/act250/search.cfm. The project number is 8B0079-8
Neither Levy nor his local attorney, Alan B. George of Rutland, could be reached on Tuesday.
Contact Patrick McArdle at patrick.mcardle@rutlandherald.com.
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