They’re back.
Rumors of a new Walmart store at Township Line and Buckwalter roads have circulated in recent months. Testimony at Thursday night’s Limerick Board of Supervisors meeting indicates that a settlement agreement and fresh set of blueprints for the mega retailer may be coming soon.
“We’re still very concerned about the new proposal for a Walmart,” said Beat Jucker, a resident of Long Meadow Road.
In January 2004, the supervisors granted approval for a 135,287-square-foot Sam’s Club store, according to Montgomery County Court records. However, Walmart, which would have operated the store, challenged several conditions – or stipulations – attached to the approval.
The matter has dragged on through the courts for several years.
Jucker and fellow Long Meadow resident Steve Porrecca say they have been in contact with a Walmart attorney. The new “supercenter” proposal is 20,000-square-feet larger than the previous version, Jucker indicated.
Limerick Solicitor Joe McGrory stated, “It’s really not a public document yet because it’s in litigation.”
Supervisor Renee Chesler, a resident of Walnut Grove across from the proposed site, is listed in court documents as a party to the Walmart (aka Sam’s Club) litigation.
The “complexion” of the overall neighborhood has changed over the past five years, Jucker said.
Neighboring Upper Providence residents “don’t know it’s there or going to be there … We really need a new hearing so everyone knows what’s going on,” he said.
McGrory assured the residents that a judge would hold a public hearing prior to settlement. Furthermore, a conditional use approval from the township would involve other public meetings.
The only current supervisor on the board in 2004 was Ken Sperring Jr. Records show the 11 conditions for approval included:
- Street improvements to Township Line and Buckwalter roads, including widening along the entire store frontage.
- An updated traffic study, including an analysis “for various methods to reduce and/or discourage the use of Long Meadow Road by potential patrons.”
- The removal of all references to a gas station from Walmart’s plans.
- Sound buffers or barriers were called for in the area of air conditioners, truck parking and unloading areas.
- “Applicant shall provide the board with a schedule of operating hours which will minimize off-hour noises in the surrounding residential zones.”
This meeting started a half-hour late due to an executive session. Supervisors’ Chairwoman Elaine DeWan said the closed-door meeting was to discuss “some litigation.”
The next supervisors meeting is Aug. 20 at 7 p.m., 646 W. Ridge Pike.
July 17th, 2009 at 10:28 am
Geez Hays,
Does anyone else work at this place?
Every story is by you.
July 17th, 2009 at 10:57 am
Interesting. I would personally love a Walmart to come to this area. I know people living very close to it may not agree but seriously, it would add even more convenience and variety to the available shopping in our area. I like Walmart but don’t like to have to drive to Pottstown or Trooper. One right here in our area would be nice…
July 17th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
A walmart will bring crime to the area and make the local traffic situation on Township Line Rd even more ridiculous than it already is. In addition, the approval process for this project has been a joke from the start. It needs to go through all of the proper channels.
July 17th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
Evan: Mike is a machine, and we’re all happy that he’s so willing and able to carry the load right now.
July 17th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
Please NO!!! Stop the madness!!
July 17th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
To “Concerned”: How will a Walmart bring any more crime to the area other than the occasional shoplifting, which goes on from time to time in the half-vacant shopping center on the other side of Township Line Road (aka Genuardis and Rite Aid)?
Personally, I could care less about Walmart going in or not (our family are Target shoppers)…what is a more pressing and important issue is the fact Township Line Road is as congested as it is yet is still a two lane thoroughfare when it clearly needs widening.
July 17th, 2009 at 3:56 pm
The original proposal was for a Sam’s Club. Are they still proposing a Sam’s Club or is it a WalMart now? WalMart is just being referenced here as the owner, right? The actual store will be a Sam’s Club?
July 17th, 2009 at 9:05 pm
First off- thanks to Mike Hays for the hard work. This is a great site and is my main way of staying informed of local news and stories of local interest.
Now, for the Walmart issue. First of all, I hate Walmart. I hate the drab and cluttered stores. I hate the lack of good customer service. I hate the fact that they hire tons of part-time, low paid employees and don’t give most of them health benefits. Now, besides all of that, I still wouldn’t support any large “big box” store coming into that location.
Township Line Road just can’t handle the increased customer and delivery traffic that would go along with such a large store. The traffic there is horrible at times already. The road needs to be two lanes from 422 to Ridge Pike. Secondly, the traffic will only be worse now, compared to 5 years ago, due to the soon to open new Catholic high school set to open up the road. That is already going to have a big effect on traffic during the week- especially during morning commute time and after school rush.
The 2004 conditions for approval demanded by the township supervisors are also a joke. The one about widening the intersection started out well, but when they went on to say that they wanted ” widening along the entire store frontage” that’s were it went idiotic. Widening the street just along the length of the store property only, will not help traffic that is coming along the other area roads as well as the traffic coming along the entire length of Township Line.
I can see a smaller store/stores coming into that location, but a “super store” will just have too large of a detrimental effect on local traffic and quality of life, without extensive improvements to the majority of the surrounding streets.
July 18th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
Alex,
Thanks for the complement and your insightful comments on many stories. (Quasi-legal disclaimer for the folks in Bentonville, Ark.: WT422 does not endorse Alex’s views of Walmart.)
I’m not 100 percent sure if this will be a Walmart or Sam’s Club. But based on my discussion with the Long Meadow residents, it sounds like a Walmart supercenter.
July 20th, 2009 at 6:55 am
Alex: “I can see a smaller store/stores coming into that location, but a “super store” will just have too large of a detrimental effect on local traffic and quality of life, without extensive improvements to the majority of the surrounding streets.”
There’s a nice shopping center that already is struggling across the street (Genuardi’s/Rite Aid) that’s running 30-40% vacant as Gold’s Gym, Limerick Carpet, and a couple of other places have pulled out over the last year. There’s been some rumor amongst the locals that Genuardi’s will pull out when their lease is up in 2012…and a Super Walmart would probably be the nail in the coffin for that.
Traffic is already bad as is (I agree with Alex)…adding a Walmart isn’t going to make it better (probably worse on weekends) and the idea of developing before road expansion/infrastructure improvement for the whole of Township Line Road is not smart (thank you Limerick, Upper Providence, and PennDOT for your efforts in working together to fix this).
Personally, I have no ill will towards Walmarts or the Superstore concept but this isn’t an area that really is in the position to be able to support the additional business to begin with. Both Targets in Upper Prov are not exactly swamped on weekends and the only grocery store in the area that’s really busy is Giant.
One last thing, Walmart was in discussions with Limerick 2-3 years back to develop on Ridge Pike over by the Limerick Center Road/Swamp Pike area. I might have the timing wrong but I do remember that proposal was axed by local opposition. That would lead me to think that the Sam’s Club proposal at Township Line then was made into Super Walmart.
July 20th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
My thoughts are alligned with New Clear’s – the local population isn’t big enough to support a WalMart and the 5 supermarkets + Target + all the stores in the local strip malls that are all within 1/2 to 1 mile radius of the proposed location (Township Line & Buckwalter). Add in to the mix the big strip that is going in off of 422 and 29 (Wegman’s, BestBuy, Dick’s Sporting Goods), and I’m predicting that something is going to fail, even if the economy picks up eventually.
What if a lot of the local shops close down? Ok, so the former owners/employees find new jobs at WalMart for only part time hours and no health benefits? Are we better off?
I’m concerned for the local commerce and I’m also concerned for the quality of life of the local residents.
July 20th, 2009 at 4:14 pm
Family Man — Providence Town Center is having problems filling with stores to open out of the gate as it is. They are having to “roll out” in two phases. The first phase is just the big stores aka Wegmans, Best Buy, etc….the complex is more or less done as of October but will be quite vacant out of the gate except for the big box retailers and a few other shops scattered around.
The whole handling of PTC on Brandolini’s end was pretty awful…lease rates apparently were quite high and this, combined with the economy, lead to many of the smaller stores plus Barnes and Noble to pull out.
July 29th, 2009 at 6:55 pm
We’ve lived near the proposed site for Sam’s/Walmart for over 20 years. We’ve seen the areas nearby become developed commercially and are dismayed by the the number of vacant stores in these developments, yet more building goes on. To add another commercial establishment such as Walmart can only cause the number of vacancies to increase. How much development is too much?
Township Line Road is a mess now. Evening rush hour backups extend from Linfield-Trappe Rd. beyond Rittenhouse. With the opening of the high school, rush hour will be a nightmare. Widening the road from 422 to Ridge will cause a great deal of hardship for those residing along it. More traffic signals mean even more time wasted idling with attending pollution. Can you imagine the impact of Walmart traffic?
We applaud the efforts of the group filing suit to try to stop this juggernaut. 24 hours a day of walmart traffic will be unbearable to the neighborhoods surrounding the site. When we purchased our home here in Upper Providence, the site was zoned R-2 (?)- townhouses, which we weren’t concerned by. Then the rezoning to Highway commercial-why? $$$$
July 30th, 2009 at 11:26 am
@newclearpower: Isn’t it obvious how this potential Walmart will increase crime in my neighborhood. There will be vandalism and tons of grafitti, just like on many other buildings in the area. If it were a 24hr shop there is also potential for robberies, rapes, and kidnappings. I moved into this neighborhood, because it has a good school district and is a safe place for my children to grow up. Just as it was when my husband and his brothes grew up here.
I am extremely opposed to the plan for either a super-walmart or a sam’s club.
Traffic is a nightmare and will only get worse once a store of that magnitude is placed here. Honestly, it already takes 15 mins to get from Old Mill to Linfield-Trappe RD at 5:30PM, do we want to make that wait time a 1/2hr or longer?
what about the noise and light pollution? Forget using a telescope with my children on a nice summer or early fall night! If I wanted all these things: the pollution, the traffic, the mega-stores on every corner I would have stayed in New Jersey!
July 30th, 2009 at 7:46 pm
I have driven several times by the Super Walmart in Hatboro on Route 63 — I don’t see graffiti on that building or on the Super Walmart in Boyertown or any of the Walmarts in suburbia. Most of the people who will shop at this Walmart are your neighbors or people from Phoenixville, Collegeville, Sanatoga, etc…
As for rapes, outside of the one unfortunate incident in Lower Providence recently I don’t hear about tons of rapes in Walmart parking lots. Yeah, you have petty crime but you run into that at Target, Giant, or most chain retailers in any community. You don’t hear people whine or complain about a car getting keyed in the Giant parking lot or a shoplifter at Target but it happens. I’m not trying to trash your argument but “crime” and “retail” are commonplace regardless of the retailer. Just because it’s (big bad) Walmart doesn’t mean that they’re the only ones who have issues with petty crime.
Anyways, if you are opposed to Walmart based on traffic, there’s a real point to be made and that needs to be taken up with Upper Providence and with Limerick because the road straddles both communities. If they can’t pressure PennDOT into making the necessary improvements to a state road (Township Line is a state road), then Limerick has no business approving Walmart on common sense grounds.
I’m sympathetic to the people in the neighborhood near the proposed site. However, when someone moves somewhere to “escape” development and move to a new neighborhood…eventually that development catches up to you and you run into the same problems you had in your old community because of growth. It’s not your fault, my fault, or anyone else’s fault — but growth brings traffic, brings further development (retail and other housing), etc.
August 5th, 2009 at 2:22 pm
I am very concerned about this WalMart. I live in this area and am mostly concerned about the traffic. This is very much a residential area and a huge retailer like WalMart does not belong here. The houses that will border this area will be subjected to ridiculous traffic and potential 24 hour noise. I understand that with progression comes commercial development and some inconvenience, but the Limerick Township Board seems to have no concern for the residential community. Ridge Pike is commercially developed and I understand larger retailers moving into that area, but this proposed site is literally in the middle of homes. Limerick needs to stop worrying so much about revenue and more about the residents. Otherwise the benefits of living in this community (schools, safety, sense of community) will no longer matter and residents will look to move.
A few questions:
How were the Limerick residents successful in fighting the proposed WalMart that was mentioned earlier in comments? Can we employ similar efforts to fight this? Also, does Upper Providence have any say in this? The majority of the residents that will be effected by this are Upper Providence residents. This will make it that much easier for Limerick’s board to push this through. This board seems to have a history of being blinded by money so I don’t expect them to fight this in the least.
August 9th, 2009 at 6:46 pm
I would LOVE to see a super Walmart in Limerick!!!!! The way I see it, if you do not want to live next to any business zones, don’t buy a house on Ridge Pike or right by 422. problem solved!!!
August 10th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
You’re right Joan. Let’s make Limerick a mecca for big box retail. Let’s drive out all character and and sense of community and turn it into Montgomeryville or King of Prussia. Let’s allow the board to allow any business to build on any land they see fit. How about another Nuclear Plant while we’re at it.
August 18th, 2009 at 10:43 pm
I agree with Joan! On another note, I think the traffic thing will work itself out. They’ll get the necessary adjustments made. I also agree with New Clear Power on the crime and graffiti comments. Also on the comment that development catches up to you. Sorry, but that’s life. It happens. I like it!
I do feel badly about the shopping center across the street with Genuardis. Hmmmmm, I don’t know what’s going to happen there. We could certainly use a few more dining options!
September 1st, 2009 at 12:37 pm
Is Costco still a remote possibility to come to Limerick?
September 1st, 2009 at 3:48 pm
i heard it was dead
September 2nd, 2009 at 6:37 am
Joan I couldn’t agree with you less. Move away from where the development was. Where they want to put in the Walmart or BJs Buckwalter road there used to be a dirt road when we moved there 18 years ago. That open field protects our development from all the traffic on Township line road. A Walmart or anything there will greatly decrease property values for our quiet neighborhood and cause a traffic nightmare at an already nightmarish intersection. Also, the neighborhood that will be most effected is in Upper Providence township and the Limerick township board could care less what we are concerned about as long as it brings in more money for their township.
September 7th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
The current board did not approved the Walmart project
September 7th, 2009 at 9:32 pm
EKW is on the money. Joan’s comment is short-sighted and narrow-minded. It is not so simple as telling someone to move or not buy near a major intersection if they don’t like development. Overdevelopment makes residential propoerties a target for unwanted commercial buildings. Let’s hope your fellow township residents are more supportive of you if you ever face a similar situation. If not you will just have to move….problem solved.
September 29th, 2009 at 11:22 am
Limerick township is beyond saving. The many shopping centers it already has have set a precedent that will prevent anyone from stopping more. There has been no effort at any kind of comprehensive planning. Because of this, it has got to be one of the most ill-planned and ugliest townships in the area. Such a shame, because it used to be nice. If Walmart wants to build something, its going to be next to impossible to stop them. And they will not worry if the population can support their store – their main priority to is put their competitors out of business, and then everyone will have to come to them. That’s Walmart’s business strategy: They want to be the only game in town. They used to accomplish that by moving into small towns that had no supermarkets and big-box stores. They market is tapped out, so now they move into suburban areas, price everything as low as possible, and put the exisiting big boxes out of business.
October 1st, 2009 at 5:36 pm
Walmart is for trailer trash, keep in in Pottstown and trooper!
October 2nd, 2009 at 1:29 pm
Listen, if you don’t want development and convenience, there is a place for you, it’s called Lancaster and Berks counties. There are still plenty of pickup trucks with monster tires and plenty of cows for you to continue to live in the 19th century.
October 7th, 2009 at 10:06 am
NO WALMART!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
– WATCH HIGH COST: THE WALMART EFFECT AND YOU WILL AGREE
I have NEVER shopped there and NEVER WILL.