Friday, December 23, 2005
By DIANE LEDERMAN Staff writer
dlederman@repub.com

HADLEY - Opponents of the proposed Wal-Mart Super Center are hoping that the Conservation Commission will deny developers permits.

Not enough information has been provided, they say.

Developers for the Hampshire Mall expansion and Wal-Mart recently filed a notice of intent for the project with the Conservation Commission. Pyramid Co., which owns the mall, is planning a 212,000-square-foot Wal-Mart Super Center.

The discount giant currently has a store in the adjacent Mountain Farms Mall.

The store would be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and would offer groceries, department store items, a tire center, and a filling s! tation.

The plan has drawn opposition at Planning Board hearings on site plan review. The Planning Board hearing on the project will continue on Jan. 17, and the Conservation Commission hearing on Jan. 10.

"We found a lot of things that are missing, " said resident David Elvin this week. "The commission is within its legal right to deny this." He said that one major issue is the extent of wetlands in the area where Wal-Mart wants to build. He said, "There are more wetlands than they're willing to say."

The developer's project consultant, Michael J. Marcus, senior scientist for New England Environmental Inc. of Amherst, could not be reached for comment yesterday.

At the Conservation Commission meeting this month, he and others presented a 91-page report contending that the developer is not reporting a larg! e area of wetlands and is not providing enough information about the filling of wetlands to know the impact to water quality and wildlife habitat.

The board also believes that the developer has not provided enough information about surveys of two rare species.

Commission Chairwoman Alexandra D. Dawson said that engineers usually provide more information than was provided at the meeting. The town has hired as its consultant Tighe & Bond, which has received more information and will report when the hearing resumes.

She said there are also questions about the land that the Army Corps of Engineers is addressing.

Dawson expects the notice-of-intent process to take about six months, and, despite resident requests that the project be denied, she does not expect it to go away.

She said the developers can always mitigate or redesign the plans in order to comply with state law.