About three dozen residents came out Tuesday for what will be the first of several Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals hearings about Walmart’s proposed move from East Wareham to the intersection of Tobey Road and Cranberry Highway in West Wareham.

According to Walmart spokesperson Chris Buchanan, the desire to relocate is a result of the success Walmart has enjoyed in Wareham and the company's desire to expand services to include a full line of groceries.  Despite owning the East Wareham building, Walmart is prohibited from expanding its grocery business in that location by a deed restriction connected to its participation in a shopping center with Stop & Shop.

Opinion in the Town Hall cafeteria was about evenly divided between those wearing green “Say Yes To Walmart” stickers and those who are opposed to, or at least deeply concerned about,  the prospect of another large chain store coming to the area near Wareham Crossing.

Some, like Great Hill Estates resident Beverly Lake-Guinen, were worried about elderly mobile park residents who already find it difficult to use Cranberry Highway due to congestion.   She, and many others who spoke last night, said they found it difficult to believe adding a Walmart to the mix will do anything to improve the already difficult situation in that part of town.

Others, like resident Steve Yachmetz, questioned the accuracy of the data Walmart’s transportation engineer presented earlier in the evening about projected traffic increases at the intersection of Tobey Road and Route 28.

Shaun Kelly of Vanasse & Associates Transportation Engineers and Planners explained to the joint boards the results of their traffic study.  It predicts a rise in weekday evening traffic in the area of about 480 cars, and a weekend spike of about 980 cars.  He said the impact of the increased traffic could be largely mitigated by widening  both Tobey Road and Route 28, and adding some lanes. 

During the public comment period, Yachmetz rose and stated that he believes Vanasse’s numbers are way off, insufficiently consider the nearby elementary school, and were “just asking for a catastrophe at that intersection.”

At least one man was concerned with the environmental impact of the project.  Malcolm Phinney told town officials and Walmart representatives “Once this store is in, it opens the door to other projects…We keep cutting down tress, destroying the ecosystem — the ecosystem is what we need, not Walmart.” 

Phinney further noted “It is unsustainable and we’re going to pay for it…” before requesting that Walmart’s engineers at least consider powering the store with photovoltaic cells.

Planning and zoning officials mostly listened during Walmart’s presentation, noting that this first meeting was informational. 

For his part, Walmart representative Buchanan said he thought the initial meeting went well, and that most of the concerns he heard, particularly about traffic, were expected. 

Buchanan said the job is now for the engineering team to go back and figure out how to best address those concerns. He said he is confident that the hurdles to new construction can be overcome. 

He said it was possible that Walmart would consider powering the new store with solar power, noting that there are Walmart stores in Hawaii and California that do so. He said it was likely that the new Wareham store would use "solar harvesting" technology, which essentially uses skylights to light the store during the day, thus cutting back on the amount of electricity Walmart will consume.

Tuesday’s public hearing is one of many stops in a complicated permitting process.  In addition to needing approval from the zoning and planning boards, the project will have to be cleared by the Selectmen, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, the Department of Transportation, and Mass Highway. 

The next step in the permitting process, as it relates to the Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals will be a February 15 hearing in the Town Hall cafeteria.