The retailer unveils a new design that includes a light to ease travel near its proposed site off U.S. 19. Neighbors still worry that the supercenter will lead to traffic jams.
By BRIDGET HALL GRUMET
Published October 14, 2004
BAYONET POINT - Wal-Mart planners have seen the light.
The retailer has submitted revamped plans for a supercenter near Beacon Woods - this time adding a traffic signal at the proposed Wal-Mart entrance on Beacon Woods Drive, about 800 feet east of U.S. 19. The signal would line up with the rear Kmart entrance to the south.
Wal-Mart engineers say the signal would allow for safer turns in and out of both shopping centers, addressing traffic concerns that doomed the previous design this summer. "We think it does, and hopefully it will," Wal-Mart attorney Glenn Smith said Wednesday.
Beacon Woods leaders aren't so sure.
"The distance between that point and U.S. 19 is a very short distance," said Ray Watson, vice president of the Beacon Woods Civic Association.
"And if you get more than seven to eight cars (idling on Beacon Woods Drive), where is traffic coming across the bridge (exiting Wal-Mart) going to go?"
"It's going to back up," Watson said.
The world's largest retailer submitted the new plans this week, three months after the county's Development Review Committee rejected the original ones.
Wal-Mart had appealed the committee's decision, but the new plans put the appeal on hold.
As with the old design, the new plans show a 203,700-square-foot supercenter and a 0.77-acre site that would be leased to a gas station.
Another 1.91 acres of "open space" could be developed into a bank, restaurant or shop sometime in the future, but only if the county signs off on specific plans for such a business.
The 30-acre site currently houses the empty Bayonet Point Mall.
Smith said the idea for the new traffic signal actually came from Domingo Noriega, the county transportation consultant who raised concerns about the original design during the Development Review Committee's July 15 hearing.
"I asked him, if we were able to move the Wal-Mart driveway so it aligns with easternmost Kmart driveway, would that solve the problem?" Smith said. "He said yes, as long as you put a traffic signal there."
The new design still must be reviewed by county planners and traffic experts. Then it will come before the Development Review Committee for a public hearing and a vote.
The date for the public hearing has not been set, said Cindy Jolly, the county's development director.
Bridget Hall Grumet covers Pasco County government. She can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6244, or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6244. Her e-mail address is hall@sptimes.com
