Traffic study for new big box stores’ site raises local ire

SALEM ? Dozens of angry Lynn and Salem residents sharply criticized a traffic impact presentation delivered to the Planning Board Thursday by the would-be developers of super-sized Wal-Mart and Lowe’s Home Improvement Center stores on Highland Avenue.Most of the fury focused on the age of the traffic data, some of which was gathered in 2004, pre-dating rampant development in the neighborhood near the Lynn-Salem line.The Kennedy Development Group was before the board seeking a special permit to expand the footprint of the present Walmart, build a large Lowe’s big-box store next to it, double the size of the Meineke auto repair business on the site, make improvements at the abutting Camp Lion and facilitate construction of a new Salem municipal water storage tower as part of the deal.Jason Plourde, a traffic engineer from Greenman Pedersen Inc., represented the development group. According to Plourde, motor vehicle traffic on Highland Avenue would actually lessen once the stores are constructed. He noted that population in the area decreased from 1997 to 2004 and that the accident history at intersections along the busy highway are below state average. The project would attract an estimated 1,020 additional cars on weekdays.Norman Cole of Lynn, whose home is in the vicinity, challenged Plourde’s figures by citing from a recent Environmental Notification Form filed with the state Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, which indicates traffic will increase by an additional 5,960 vehicles per day, he said.”The state says it will be closer to 6,000 additional cars. I don’t know where these other people got their numbers,” Cole said. “What this is really about is corporate greed. This is Lowe’s trying to put Home Depot out of business.”State Rep. Robert Fennell, among several Lynn officials at the hearing, said traffic is only one concern of many. “Besides traffic we have issues about the environmental impact and water runoff,” he said. “This is a congested area already, and now there’s a proposal by North Shore Carting to expand the trash transfer station on Swampscott Road, which would add hundreds of trucks coming into Lynn. It has already been approved by Salem but that decision is being appealed.”Fennell said the Wal-Mart and Lowe’s stores will be built on elevated ground over 60 feet higher than the houses nearby, forcing residents to look up at the big-box complex as their view. “If this project goes through, all of the tree line on the cliff will be gone and people will be looking up at Lowe’s,” he said.Mary Whitney of Salem said the developers manage to make it seem like 30 acres of mega-sized stores are an improvement. “Big-box stores destroy the heart and soul of the downtown,” she said, adding that Salem’s waterfront and business district are flourishing with new shops and restaurants.Aikaterini Panagiotakis who lives in Lynn’s Spring Pond neighborhood, said the highway traffic would have a negative acoustical impact on area residents. Delivery truck noise in the early morning and the sounds of contractors loading lumber into their pickups will be heard at greater distances, she said.William Trahant Jr., Lynn’s Ward 2 councilor, scoffed at the notion that traffic would decrease following construction. As he put it, “If traffic is going to decrease, why would you build a store?”Trahant said Lynn residents living on Buchanan Circle and other streets in the vicinity already have difficulty entering Western Avenue due to traffic. Adjusting the traffic signal at the intersection of Fays Avenue, as the developers suggested, will not solve the problem, he said.John Sawyer of Barns Road said Highland Avenue becomes a drag strip after dark for drivers in powerful cars. “It’s a poor proposal in general because the road is inadequate,” he said, adding that the route is made more dangerous by ambulances headed to Salem Hospital at all hours.Lynn lawyer Thomas Demakis, developer of the Apple Hill residential subdivision off Weste