The scheduled informal discussion between the Planning Board and developers on Walmart's plans for a new location in West Wareham quickly became a public hearing on Monday night as several audience members expressed displeasure with the superstore's proposed plans, preferring that Walmart expand its current site in East Wareham rather than build a new location.

"All you care about is the bottom line," protested resident Mack Phinney. "You don't care about Wareham, if you did, you'd go to East Wareham and expand the store there."

Walmart tried to put its best foot forward. The meeting was the first time that the corporation's representatives approached the Planning Board to ask how to best proceed with the permitting with the numerous boards - "We'll have to see every board in town," engineer Matt Smith, of Bohler Engineers, joked - to approve the plans for the new, 152,124-square-foot location at the corner of Tobey Road and Cranberry Highway in West Wareham.

"You don't have a town planner currently," explained Smith, who engineered the site plans. "We want to know where do we go and what do we have to do. We'd like your thoughts, feedback, and input on the plans."

The major feedback was skepticism. The new store is approximately 30,000 square feet larger than its current location on Cranberry Highway in East Wareham, a fact that led planning board members as well as members of the public in attendance to question the need for a new store, especially when businesses are vacating East Wareham.  There are currently vacancies in the former Staples, T.J. Maxx, and Payless Shoe Source, locations, which moved to Wareham Crossing.

"Expansion for expansion's sake is not necessarily good," said Planning Board member Alan Slavin, explaining that the Planning Board‘s goal is to "save space and develop tight. If it's only 30,000 square feet bigger...you can easily expand the existing Walmart to handle that."

Other environmental, traffic, and considerations of the new site augmented concerns that the new development might not be warmly received.

The site is adjacent to Strow's Folly Brook, and water and drainage issues, as well as the fact that this area is habitat for endangered Eastern Box Turtles, also sparked concerns.

Howie Smith, owner of Smith's Cesspool Services and a resident of the area, said that he has seen the water table rise dramatically in the area near the proposed store as cranberry bogs and what he described as a "giant funnel catching water" behind what is now Community Mini Storage have all been filled in with new development.  The result is more flooding and, most notably, seepage problems at the railroad bridge on Main Street right near the intersection of Tobey Road

"I like Walmart, I like their product," said Smith, noting that he especially liked Walmarts in sales-tax-free New Hampshire. "But I'm concerned about the water table."

Concerns about this seepage also segued into another issue: increased traffic and safety.

West Wareham resident Kathy Pappalardo said that the railroad bridge underpass and the proximity of Decas Elementary School was " a disaster waiting to happen," as she said that every day in her winter walks past the bridge, she notes that Municipal Maintenance has sanded to melt black ice.

But most frustrating to the projects opponents was that Walmart was precisely what they didn't want.

"We don't want to look like East Wareham," said Pappalardo, who was a citizen representative of the West Wareham Study Group that examined zoning changes in 2004 and 2005. "We didn't want Cranberry Highway to be one gigantic strip from Bourne to Carver."

In fact the majority of the site to be developed was, in effect, rezoned in 2004 - the industrial district was redefined to disallow retail use, which would prevent commercial, big-box development in the area. However, a subdivision plan for the parcel that was submitted before the zoning took effect, means this use can still occur on the land as long as the developers follow the guidelines set by the Zoning Board of Appeals.

Ed Angley, a lawyer representing Walmart, said that he would convey the concerns to the company. He noted that they had not filed their plans with the town yet, so changes could be made. He made no guarantees, however, that the concerns would significantly alter plans, and he could not answer whether Walmart had considered expanding the current location or what would be done with that location once the new building was completed.

"I don't live in Bentonville, Arkansas," he noted. "We're at least not filing before we have a chance to hear your concerns."

Planning Board Chair George Barrett cut off discussion since the evening was not supposed to be a public hearing, apologizing if the meeting had wandered off course. However, he warned the Walmart representatives that the meeting might be a preview of what was to come at further public hearings.

"This may give you a sense of what you're going to hear," he said.