Further discussion on proposed construction set for April 16.
By: Lea Kahn
The community room at the Lawrence Township Police and Municipal Court Building filled quickly as the Planning Board held its first of several meetings on Wal-Mart’s proposed store on Spruce Street Monday night.
After almost three hours, the Planning Board closed Monday’s meeting having not completed the public hearing on Wal-Mart’s application for a 143,233-square-foot store, planned for a 23.5-acre site currently occupied by two used-car dealerships at 1060-1100 Spruce St. The board will pick up where it left off on April 16.
A handful of protesters gathered outside the building about a half-hour before the meeting, passing out leaflets and holding picket signs that proclaimed "No Wal-Mart." The phrase was inside a circle that bore a slash through it. Several members of the group filed into the building to attend the meeting.
The leaflets, handed out by members of LET’s (Lawrence/Ewing/Trenton) Stop Wal-Mart, urged the Planning Board to vote against the application, citing increased traffic generated by the new store as well as environmental reasons. The site borders the Shabankunk Creek and at least part of the site is prone to flooding.
Planning Board attorney David Roskos reminded the audience that the board is limited to reviewing the application, and that it is not concerned with the applicant’s corporate practices or labor practices.
"We are here simply to consider the site plan. We have no authority over other issues," Mr. Roskos said.
Michael Moonin of Bohler Engineering, the applicant’s engineer, walked the Planning Board through the application. The site plan calls for 134,579 square feet of retail space plus 8,654 square feet of space for a garden center, he said. Fewer than 4,000 square feet of the retail space would be devoted to groceries.
The store, which would employ about 300 people, would be open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily, Mr. Moonin said. There would be parking for 725 cars, but 67 of those spaces will be banked, or not built unless they are needed, he said. The banked parking spaces would be located on the north side of the property, near the street.
The plans call for two driveway entrances, he said. The southern driveway would allow cars to make a right turn from Spruce Street into the parking lot, and also make a right turn from the lot onto Spruce Street.
The northern driveway would be aligned with the intersection of Arctic Parkway and Spruce Street, which has a traffic light. Cars would be able to turn left or right as they exited the driveway, or go straight across to Arctic Parkway. All trucks would be required to cross Spruce Street to Arctic Parkway.
Delivery trucks would be required to use the northern driveway, Mr. Moonin said. This includes Wal-Mart tractor-trailer trucks and smaller delivery trucks used by other suppliers, he said. There would be two or three tractor-trailer truck deliveries, between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m., he said. The smaller trucks would make deliveries throughout the day.
Mr. Moonin said the closest house to the loading dock at the Wal-Mart store is about 760 to 800 feet away, in the Tiffany Woods development off Spruce Street. The truck driver would drop off the trailer he was hauling and pick up a trailer that had been left at the loading dock formfrom a previous delivery. All told, it would take about 40 minutes to make the drop-off and pickup of a trailer, he said.
Ewing Township resident Valorie Caffee pointed out there would be an increase in air pollution from the diesel trucks’ exhaust as they idled, waiting for the delivery and pickup to be completed. State law permits trucks to idle for three minutes, not 30 minutes, she said.
Attorney Robert Ridolfi, who represents Wal-Mart, replied that the company would comply with the law. The truck driver would not be idling the engine, because he would be driving the truck from loading dock to loading dock, he added.
Ewing Township resident Robert Steinmetz, who lives on 4th Street near the site, said the wooded area along the Shabakunk Creek absorbs the rainwater and acts as a natural detention basin.
"I have no opposition to Wal-Mart," Mr. Steinmetz said. "I want to be sure there is no more flooding on the 4th Street side of the creek. I have no opposition to Wal-Mart becoming a new neighbor."
Mr. Moonin testified that Wal-Mart would install a detention basin to hold rainwater runoff. Presently, the rainwater flows off the parking lot directly into the Shabakunk Creek. The detention basin would hold the water and allow it to flow into the creek at a slower rate.
Mr. Moonin also pointed out that the garden center is located about 360 feet from the middle of the Shabakunk Creek. The stormwater management measures, such as an infiltration basin, would allow particulates or contaminants to settle out before the water would be released into the creek, he said.

