Bangor planning board tables Wal-Mart proposal

BANGOR – The city’s planning board on Tuesday postponed its decision on a proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter, which has drawn fire from local environmentalists looking to protect the nearby Penjajawoc Marsh.

Citing a need to review the volumes of new information presented by opponents at Tuesday’s meeting, the board unanimously voted to delay its decision until its next meeting, scheduled for April 3.

Of the more than 200 people to attend the public hearing at the William S. Cohen School, many were opponents who lined up to question the plan that puts the 224,000-square-foot Supercenter near the marsh, considered by state officials to be a valuable wildlife habitat.

“Enough is enough,” said Gwethalyn Phillips, a member of Bangor Area Citizens Organized for Responsible Development, a group opposing the plan. “Any town can have a Wal-Mart, and in fact we do, but only Bangor can have a Penjajawoc.”

The 224,000-square-foot Supercenter with its 987 parking spaces would be located on a 27.4-acre parcel on the corner of Stillwater Avenue and Gilman Road. It would replace the current 121,000-square-foot Wal-Mart on Springer Drive that opened in 1992.

Officials from the DeWitt, N.Y.,-based Widewaters Group, the project’s developer, on Tuesday asked the board to approve the development, which upon the request of state environmental officials had been moved farther away from the stream at the expense of additional retail lots on the site.

“We have seen the bar set and then changed, and then changed again,” said Kevin Kane, an architect with Widewaters, which in October paid $2.3 million for the prime property near the Bangor Mall. “We are and have been in compliance with all city ordinances … and it comes down to a question of law. At some point we have some property rights.”

While the project’s proximity to the marsh – home to a number of bird species on the state’s threatened or endangered lists – has sparked opposition, those against the project on Tuesday also cited its potential to increase traffic on the already-congested Stillwater Avenue and residential side streets.

Widewaters representatives contended that road improvements included in the plan, coupled with a new Stillwater Avenue interchange with Interstate 95, would alleviate existing traffic problems.

City planning staff, upon finding that the plan complied with all city ordinances, had recommended that the board approve the proposal.

Even with local approval, the project still must receive clearance from the Maine Departments of Transportation and Environmental Protection.

Tuesday’s delay came as a reprieve for BACORD, which has looked to stop development around the marsh, which they contend would serve the city better as a nature preserve.