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Wal-Mart hearing likely delayed again

The county's traffic consultant needs more time to review a study involving the proposed Beacon Woods superstore.

By BRIDGET HALL GRUMET
Published October 6, 2005

BAYONET POINT - Scores of Beacon Woods residents have circled Oct. 20 on their calendars, gearing up for a showdown with Wal-Mart officials who want to build a supercenter on the community's doorstep.

But the battle may be postponed yet again.

County planners will ask to reschedule the upcoming Development Review Committee hearing on the proposed Wal-Mart because the county's traffic consultant, Tindale-Oliver and Associates, needs more time to review the plans, development director Cindy Jolly said.

Wal-Mart submitted its traffic study Sept. 27, said Ali Atefi, an engineer for the county. But the county is entitled to 30 days to review the plans, and Wal-Mart's engineers have not yet submitted some of the supporting data, Atefi said.

"Our traffic reviewer said they would need the full 30 days," Jolly said.

Only the Development Review Committee can postpone the hearing, but the panel usually honors staff requests for additional time.

The fate of the supercenter, proposed for the old Bayonet Point Mall site on U.S. 19, largely hinges on the traffic plan.

The 30-acre site has two driveways on U.S. 19. But Wal-Mart also wants a driveway on Beacon Woods Drive, which would mean building a short bridge over Bear Creek. That would allow Wal-Mart shoppers to make left turns at an intersection with a signal - U.S. 19 and Beacon Woods Drive - to get in and out of the store. Wal-Mart is even proposing a second signal, at Beacon Woods Drive and the Wal-Mart entrance, to handle the traffic.

But many Beacon Woods residents fear that that design would draw shortcut-seekers and lost drivers into their golf course community.

"You have the obvious potential for a lot of traffic problems, a lot of safety problems, and the degradation of the environment and the degradation of the quality of life in the subdivision," said Ronald Hubbs, chairman of the Beacon Woods special committee battling the proposed Wal-Mart.

Postponed hearings have become the norm for the three-year Wal-Mart saga. But the retailer is moving full speed ahead: Wal-Mart bought the commercially zoned site Aug. 26 for $5-million, according to county records.

[Last modified October 6, 2005, 01:14:18]