Published: November 21, 2007 02:27 am      

TOWN OF LOCKPORT: Planning board OKs proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter

Planning board members unanimously approved the proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter on Monday.

Wal-Mart intends to build at the site of the vacant Lockport Mall on South Transit Road. The plan is in tandem with General Growth Properties, which will sell most of the mall lot to Wal-Mart while holding onto the building where BonTon does business.

In three separate roll call votes, board members approved: a special use permit with 41 conditions; the proposed site plan and subdivision of the mall property; and 12 waivers of the Commercial Corridor Overlay District that is applied to South Transit Road.

Only board member Rodney Conrad chose to explain his vote in the proceedings. After much work by the board and Wal-Mart to address public concerns about appearance, traffic, noise and pollution, he said, plus the fact that the supercenter will be a fully taxable addition to the town’s commercial base, plus the fact that Wal-Mart is committed to finding a new occupant for its existing store south of the mall site, he sees more benefit than cost in the proposal.

“That’s why I’m voting the way I’m voting,” Conrad said. “Who knows what would happen if Wal-Mart fell through? That (mall) building could stand there empty a long time.”

Now the plan moves to the Zoning Board of Appeals, where Wal-Mart and General Growth are seeking 12 variances on town code legislating setbacks, green/open space, curb cuts and the required number and size of parking spots. The zoning board likely will call a special December meeting on Wal-Mart issues, according to Senior Building Inspector Eugene Nenni.

In the meantime, Citizens For Smart Growth is contemplating suing the town over the planning approvals.

Smart Growth hones in on waivers

Speaking for the group of homeowners near the vacant mall who fear the supercenter will compromise their properties, Smart Growth attorney David Seeger said they’ll decide, within the next 10 days, whether to try having the special use permit overturned in state Supreme Court. They have 30 days to file for what’s called an Article 78 proceeding.

Seeger said members’ interest in litigation is “running high” because the group believes town officials vastly undercounted the number of exceptions from town zoning codes that the project needs to be legal at the mall.

Rather than 12 waivers and 12 variances, “we think they need 60 variances and waivers,” Seeger said. “They counted wrong (and) they’re trying to fit too much in too little a property.”

While Wal-Mart’s site plan calls for a 186,000-square-foot building, Seeger claims that, by the town’s own rules, a special use permit can be given on a project of 120,000 square feet or more only if the project complies with dimensional requirements including height and setbacks.

The board having to issue waivers on those requirements should have been its clue the project isn’t eligible for the permit, he argued.

Town officials have resisted Smart Growth inquiries about this key question, Seeger added.

Nenni was asked in September to inform the group what the law says relative to the special use permit, and his written response said he “declined to give an advisory opinion,” Seeger said. The group then formally requested a ruling from the Zoning Board of Appeals and hasn’t received a response.

The planning board broke state law by acting before the Zoning Board ruled, Seeger charged.

“We don’t like the brushoff from the town and we don’t think (the planning board’s action) was authorized,” he said.

Supporters eager for a ribbon cutting

The planning board acted as a united front Monday in front of a somewhat divided house.

While Seeger and Smart Growth members sat on one side of the meeting room, a small band of Wal-Mart supporters occupied the other side, some wearing large green stickers that said “Wal-Mart YES.” The stickers were handed out before the meeting, in the town hall foyer, by a Wal-Mart public relations representative.

Frank Allen didn’t wear a sticker into the first planning board meeting he’s ever attended, but the Old Niagara Road resident said he expected to see the board do the right thing. He was not disappointed.

“It’s about time,” Allen said. “Look at the things (Wal-Mart has) been doing; it’s everything the public wanted. They designed a building just for the Town of Lockport. They even cut down the size. ... They did all this and still, somebody will always complain. I’m glad they (approved) it.”

Planning board members said afterward they made choices for the town as a whole, not just the relatively small group that opposes the plan. The mall site is zoned for commerce and that’s what should be there, Morris Wingard said. The site will be improved by both permit conditions and the extras Wal-Mart agreed to install on Shimer Drive, including sidewalk where none exists now, he added.

Smart Growth’s chief complaint, that the mall site is too “small” for Wal-Mart, is nonsensical and self-serving, board member Bill Few asserted.

“When it was a thriving mall, the neighborhoods around it were (fine). There’s no difference in what this is going to do,” he said. “And I’ll tell you what: If you did a public referendum on this, you’d find a helluva lot more people in favor than not.”

Contact reporter Joyce Miles at 439-9222, ext. 6245.