Lynn pols eye impact of store expansion

LYNN – When the Salem Planning Board meets next Thursday to discuss expansion of the Walmart on Highland Avenue and construction of an adjacent Lowe’s Home Improvement store, some Lynn officials and neighborhood residents are likely to voice their dismay.The proposal would super-size the busy Walmart at 450 Highland Ave. and give rise to the Lowe’s by acquiring land from abutters, including the Meineke auto repair shop, Camp Lion in Lynn and the city of Salem.Lynn Councilor-at-large Daniel F. Cahill, who recently purchased a home on Belleaire Avenue near the Lynn-Salem line, made his displeasure with the project clear before the Salem Planning Board at its April 1 meeting.According to Cahill, the construction will require blasting tons of granite and ultimately result in traffic congestion along Route 107 while degrading the quality of the neighborhood and the environment.”This is a residential neighborhood. We don’t want a big box store made even bigger and another one built beside it,” said Cahill, who contends the developers offered scant notification of their intent. “It seems like the developers are trying to turn Route 107 into Route 1. Where will all the cars park? And when it rains, where will all the storm water go if it’s one big parking lot?”Environmental activists like Leslie Courtemanche of Lynn are concerned the magnitude of the project will negatively impact species of fragile birds and other animals already endangered.The plan submitted to the Salem Planning Board would demolish the present Walmart and construct another building about 50 percent larger, with 611 parking spaces. The Lowe’s facility would encompass 153,000 square feet, including a garden center. It would have 378 parking spaces.The traffic impact has not been publicly discussed, but is expected to generate additional controversy and include concepts for a breakdown lane and improved signal lights on Highland Avenue.Salem Mayor Kimberley Driscoll has been supportive of the project that the Everett-based Kennedy Development Group claims will create 105 new jobs and produce $225,000 in annual tax revenue. Aspects of the project were first proposed publicly over two years ago and informally for nearly two decades, at least where Salem’s need for a new municipal water tower are concerned.To make the project a reality, the developers must continue putting all the pieces into place and that means land acquisition.According to Danielle McKnight, a staff planner for the Salem Planning Board, zoning changes for Walmart and Lowe’s were approved last year. Four tracts of land are involved in the deal, she said.Camp Lion, 181 Fays Ave. in Lynn, owns land at 488R Highland Ave., which would be given to the developers in return for physical improvements to the camp building and grounds, McKnight said.Salem attorney Joseph Correnti, hired by the developers to handle local permitting issues, said the water tower has been casually talked about for 20 years and actively discussed for five or six.”Expansion of the Walmart isn’t a new topic, and Lowe’s, which is the biggest new piece of the project, has been openly discussed since 2008 or even earlier,” the attorney said.Correnti said he was unaware of any plan by Camp Lion to establish a multi-million-dollar endowment fund with the sales proceeds, as some observers of the situation have suggested. “Camp Lion will reap the proceeds from the land sale,” he said. “I’m not involved in the (purchase and sale). That they would put the money into an endowment could be accurate. I couldn’t say what they plan to do with the money.”Correnti said the developers are seeking to acquire about 35 of the 90 acres that Camp Lion owns in Salem.Lynn City Councilor Paul Crowley, a member of the Camp Lion Board of Directors, did not return calls to The Item, nor did attorney Joseph Sarno, the Lynn Lions Club president.Critics of the project complained to The Item that a Lynn councilor-at-large should not be involved in the massive retail