9/28/04

Residents seek support to stop new Wal-Mart

By JOHN REYNOLDS
STAFF WRITER A group of southwest-side residents who don't want a Wal-Mart superstore as a new neighbor is soliciting the help of people throughout Springfield in an effort to stop the project.

The retailer has proposed building a superstore on Wabash Avenue between Meadowbrook and Archer Elevator roads. But many residents of the Cobblestone subdivision, as well as others, object, saying roads in the area wouldn't be able to handle the increase in traffic.

Leading the charge is the Southwest Springfield Neighbors Association. More than 200 people were told at the group's meeting Monday night of a grass-roots plan to take its case to the Springfield City Council.

The plan involves having residents contact friends in other parts of town and ask them to lobby their alderman to reject Wal-Mart's proposed site. The neighborhood association (which can be reached online at www.swsna.org) has printed up postcards with a message on the back that its members can send to their friends, who will be asked to sign the cards and send them to their aldermen.

A separate postcard was prepared for Mayor Tim Davlin.

As packets of the postcards were distributed at Monday's meeting, many residents said they intend to send them out.

"It will be easy to find 20 people," said Kay Bell, a Cobblestone resident who also plans to attend public meetings and voice her opinion. "... We just moved here 31/2 years ago, and I don't want to move again. We are in for the fight."

The proposed Wal-Mart site is in Ward 10, which is represented by Ald. Bruce Strom. He spoke at Monday's meeting, calling the postcard campaign a good idea.

"This is an attempt to reach out and have constituents of other aldermen ... say, 'Look, we don't think this is right. Even though it's not on our side of town, we don't think it's right," Strom said.

He agreed that the roads in the neighborhood were not designed to handle the amount of traffic the new store would draw.

"The infrastructure does not support putting this type of intense commercial usage at this particular location," Strom said. "Archer Elevator Road is underdeveloped, and Wabash Avenue is not developed to where it needs to be ... We have had estimates that to support a project like this, Wabash Avenue would have to be (widened) to five or six lanes."

Wal-Mart originally proposed two entrances to the new store from Archer Elevator Road and two from Meadowbrook Road.

Last week, the company filed a revised plan that calls for two entrances from Archer Elevator, one from Meadowbrook and a newly created right-turn-only lane from westbound Wabash.

A committee of the Springfield Sangamon County Regional Planning Commission initially scheduled a public hearing on the Wal-Mart proposal for next week at Lincoln Library. Susan Poludniak, a senior planner with the commission, said Monday that hearing has been delayed at Wal-Mart's request so the Illinois Department of Transportation can review traffic studies.

It's possible the hearing could be rescheduled for November.

The commission eventually will make a recommendation to the city council, which also must approve the project.

Wal-Mart dropped plans last year for a superstore at Veterans Parkway and Mathers Road, a project that also drew strong opposition, from residents in nearby Panther Creek.

The company has announced plans to build another superstore at Sixth Street and Hazel Dell Road, though specifics have not yet been filed.