A group of eastern suburban residents wants to stop the world's biggest company from building a shopping center in their neighborhood.
Citizens of Penn Hills and Plum Opposing Wal-Mart will have its first town hall meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Universal Fire Hall, Universal Road, in Penn Hills, to discuss how to fight a 200,000-square-foot Wal-Mart store proposed along Saltsburg Road near the Plum-Penn Hills border.
In addition to the main store, the proposed development will include a 22,000-square-foot garden center, a 32,000-square-foot strip of other stores, plus a gas station, restaurant and drive-through bank.
Opponents say the project will add 19,548 vehicle trips per day to the area.
"The main issue for us as citizens is traffic," said Bonnie Franciscus, 58, of Bellevue Drive, Penn Hills, the committee's chairwoman and one of its organizers. Franciscus' home is near the undeveloped 52-acre site where the store would be built.
The developer said there will be "zero impact" on traffic because of stop lights and turning lanes it will add to Saltsburg Road.
"The traffic impact, there's none on this project," said Kevin Brett, partner with the Emsworth-based developer, Penn Hills Properties, LP. Brett said the development has an anchor tenant, but declined to identify it. Penn Hills officials have identified the tenant as Wal-Mart.
Brett said he was not surprised by the opposition.
"Anytime you do development in an area, you're going to have somebody concerned about traffic. We could have built 1,000 homes and generated the same amount of traffic, and people would have traffic concerns about that, too," he said.
Committee member Patty Baird, 44, of Mower Drive, Plum, said the discount retailer will force many local businesses to fold.
"I don't think it's going to bring a good element into this area (just) to save 50 cents. Do we want to see our community market go under?" Baird said. " What's going to happen to those buildings when they close?"
Wal-Mart stores have drawn opposition in other communities in the region. A group called Communities First! formed three years ago to oppose a proposed Wal-Mart at the former Dixmont State Hospital site along Route 65 in Kilbuck. That project still needs an asbestos removal permit for its demolition of Dixmont buildings and faces a PennDOT permit appeal by Communities First!
Wal-Mart has $256 billion in annual sales and 3,600 stores in the United States. It opens about 300 stores a year, including 13 in Pennsylvania in 2004.
Penn Hills Planning Director Howard Davidson said U.S. Steel showed interest in developing the site in the late 1970s. After that plan fizzled, the property attracted little interest until this year. The Wal-Mart plans were submitted to the municipal planning department in January.
Davidson said the developer could appear before the Planning Commission for a public hearing in May or June. Discussion at those hearings will be limited to local ordinances, Davidson said.
"It's not going to be a meeting about 'Do you like Wal-Mart?' Not 'Should they import stuff from China?' Not 'Should they pay their workers more?' " Davidson said. "This meeting will be about whether their site plan meets the municipal ordinance."
