Proposed Mt. Laurel Walmart nearing final approval

Mount Laurel's planning board could give final approval Thursday to a proposed Walmart store on Fellowship Road near Route 73, but unresolved questions about traffic and pedestrian safety might delay a decision.

Public opposition to the nearly 94,000-square-foot store and supermarket, with 518 parking spaces, appears to have diminished since July, when the board granted preliminary site-plan approval even as about 50 residents showed up to oppose it.

By contrast, only three residents raised objections at December's meeting, citing possible noise and traffic concerns. Representatives of Mount Laurel Development L.L.C., the legal entity representing Walmart in the application, had hoped the board might give final approval at that time.

However, board members and professional staff said Walmart had submitted so much new data in the hours before the meeting that they could not process it all, and continued discussions to the January meeting.

"There's been large public interest in the project," then-Mayor Jim Keenan told the December meeting. "We want to dot every I and cross every T.

Thursday's meeting, which starts at 7 p.m. at the municipal courtroom in the township building, will also be the board's reorganization meeting.

"I would think that if they have all of their evidence to present, a vote should be taken," Township Manager Maureen Mitchell said Wednesday in an e-mail. "The planning board has the final say," she said.

Revisions to the proposed application presented last month included an increase of nearly 5,000 square feet to the store's originally proposed 89,000 square feet of floor space to include a garden and outdoor center.

Walmart also requested a variance allowing it to create 56 fewer parking spaces than the township's formula calls for, and minor variances in signage to accommodate the contours of the parking lot.

Township engineers expressed concerns about pedestrians having to pass through automobile traffic at the entrance, and said they wanted to discuss alternative designs. If approved, the parking lot would share spaces with the adjacent Red Roof Inn and Bob Evans restaurant.

Walmart representatives said they had also begun discussions with the county about extending by 400 feet the existing jughandle at Route 73 and Fellowship, and about adding a lane to Route 73 near the busy intersection.

Mitchell said the board had the option of granting conditional approval to the project contingent on Walmart's winning county approval of its traffic plans.