Wal-Mart is seeking approval for a 149,149-square-foot store at Spruce Street. The Screening Committee of the Planning Board will review the plans at aDec. 1 meeting.
By:Lea Kahn Staff Writer
Revised plans for a Wal-Mart store, proposed for the site of two automobile dealerships at 1060 and 1100 Spruce St., are headed for a review by the Planning Board’s Screening Committee next week.
The Screening Committee will review the plans at 5 p.m. Dec. 1 in the lower level conference room at the Municipal Building. The committee goes over an applicant’s plans and offers suggestions before those plans are presented to the full Planning Board for a public hearing.
Opponents of the proposed Wal-Mart plan to hold a rally outside the Municipal Building at 4 p.m., according to Robin Williams, a member of LET’s Stop Wal-Mart. The group is made up of opponents who live in Ewing and Lawrence townships and the City of Trenton.
The current application is the latest in a series of proposed plans, dating to 2004. This is the third set of plans submitted for the planners’ approval. Neither of the two previous plans made it to a public hearing before the Planning Board.
The current proposal calls for building a 149,149-square-foot store that includes a 14,570-square-foot outdoor garden center unchanged from the last plan. There are 761 parking spaces, but 93 would be "banked" and not built until needed. There would be 688 spaces, including 12 handicap- and three van-accessible spaces. Earlier plans showed 620 parking spaces.
The entrance to the stand-alone Wal-Mart store would be made through two driveways. The northerly driveway, opposite the Arctic Parkway, would allow cars to enter and leave the site. The southerly driveway would allow motorists to turn right off Spruce Street to enter the site and to turn right to leave it.
The major planning issue, according to a memorandum prepared by township planning consultant Philip Caton, is the encroachment into the stream corridor setback. Wal-Mart plans to put 13 percent of its required parking within the 100-foot stream buffer setback and flood plain but much of that parking would be banked, or not built right away, he wrote.
Mr. Caton also questioned the placement of sidewalks on Spruce Street. Wal-Mart proposes to install sidewalks along its frontage on Spruce Street, but the sidewalk would stop 60 feet before reaching the property boundary with Ewing Township, he wrote. The sidewalk should be extended to the end of the property, and also to the south to Tiffany Woods Road. The property does not border the Tiffany Woods development.
Township traffic consultant James Kochenour recommended establishing bus stops to Spruce Street near the proposed store. It would reduce the number of employee and customer cars using the site, he wrote.
Mr. Kochenour recommended creating an exclusive right-turn lane on Arctic Parkway as it approaches Spruce Street. He also suggested an extra lane on Spruce Street along the frontage of the store.
The Environmental Resources Committee also weighed in with its comments in a report for the Planning Board Screening Committee. The report suggested that there should not be any incursions into the 100-foot stream corridor buffer zone or the flood plain including the 93 banked parking spaces.
Citing a recent state proposal that energy providers achieve a goal of 20 percent of renewable energy sources by 2020, the Environmental Resources Committee suggested that Wal-Mart could take part in the initiative by installing solar panels across the roof top.
The Environmental Resources Committee also noted the possibility of litter on the site, and recommended installing a fence that would prevent the litter from blowing off the parking area and into the woods. Wal-Mart should patrol the parking lots and stormwater detention basins to pick up litter that may have blown there, the committee recommended.
The environmental committee also suggested creating a raised pedestrian crosswalk, rather than a painted one, in the driveway for pedestrian safety. The raised pedestrian crosswalks are safer than the striped ones, the committee wrote.
Several variances are needed for the application. A portion of the proposed parking area, loading area and detention basin would be located inside the 100-foot stream buffer. The Shabakunk Creek borders the 23-acre property.
Other variances relate to the proposed signs at the site. The Land Use Ordinance permits a free-standing sign of up to 50 square feet, but Wal-Mart wants a sign measuring 80 square feet. The applicant is proposing five signs on the front of the building, but only one is permitted under the local ordinance.
Meanwhile, the LET’s Stop Wal-Mart group is not giving up on its mission to prevent the retailer from locating in Lawrence.
Ms. Williams said the group has been distributing leaflets advertising the rally. Members handed out leaflets at The College of New Jersey last week, for example, when the anti-Wal-Mart film "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Prices" was aired at the school, she said.
LET’s Stop Wal-Mart, which includes many union members, opposes the Arkansas-based discount chain store because it is anti-union. The anti-Wal-Mart group also claims that big-box stores destroy neighborhoods, worsen the economic situation for workers and drive down wages.
But according to Wal-Mart’s Web site, the company is not opposed to unions. The company states it encourages employees to express their ideas, comments and concerns directly to managers. The company does not believe there is a need for a third party a union to come between the employees and the managers, the Web site said.
Wal-Mart does not drive down wages for workers, according to the Web site. The majority of the store’s hourly employees work full time, earning an average hourly wage of $9.68 per hour. This is nearly twice the federal minimum wage, the Web site said.

