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Wal-Mart Site Plan
Wal-Mart Building Elevation
Is developing West Main Street with
Mega Stores Good Town Planning? Here are the problems with
building a 155,000 square foot store on the
proposed Wal-Mart site.
"Leaking Retail Sales":
This has been a phrase used a lot in the
argument for bringing in Box Stores to
Hillsborough.
Wal-Mart will not solve Hillsboro's tax
problems. According to the Economic Impact
Study by Applied Economics Research, it
will only add a net gain of $95,000 to our
town. How many more mega stores will it take to
"solve" our tax problems? And what will be the
price we have to pay for that kind of solution?
What about loss of local businesses?
We have already lost Windsor Florist,
Wesson's
and Belanger's gas station since Shaw's and Irving have
come to town. Cricentis' new owners
wouldn't risk keeping Cricentis open in the face
of a Wal-Mart pending in Hillsborough. How many more will we loose
if Wal-Mart comes? Perhaps Shaws will also
close. We already know that
most of the money made by big box stores won't
stay in Hillsborough. These large
companies don't use our local business
resources, all their printing, banking,
contracting needs get outsourced.
What we do get is traffic headaches, more
accidents, big
expenses in road repairs, and polluted rivers. Wouldn't it make
sense to keep these headaches in Concord and
Keene and have to make an occasional trip to do
our shopping? Most of what Wal-Mart will
bring will only be a duplication of goods and
services we already have in town: groceries,
oil/lube, hair salon, bank, garden center.
Why not a small Wal-Mart that wouldn't duplicate
the stores we already have.
See Stacy
Mitchell report on Box Stores..
Tax Impacts:
According to a recent preliminary report by
Applied Economic Research, the taxes brought in
from Wal-Mart ($250,000), minus the expenses
this store will impose on the town ($155,000 )
will leave a net annual revenue increase of $95,000, which
amounts to $19 per capita (per person) as a tax
saving.
Traffic Impacts:
The heavy traffic influx of shoppers to
Wal-Mart will necessitate a round-about at the
Rt. 9 and Rt 31 intersection,
undoing millions of dollars worth of work that went into creating
a high-speed rural highway. When placed in
heavy traffic situations, these roundabouts can
cause traffic backups and fender
benders. Factor into your family budget the
added time and gas wasted sitting in traffic and
the expense of car maintenance and repairs; the
trade-off for the "convenience" of having a mega
store in town may not be worth it.
West Main Street is a bad place for this size
development.
See letter to the editor written by Henniker
Planning Board Don Armstrong about round-abouts.
Evasion of heavy traffic tie-ups at the
McDonald's and Rt 31/Rt 9 Bypass intersection will cause
traffic overflow to take alternate routes on Saw
Mill Rd, Beard Rd, Shedd Rd and Bible Hill Rd.
These roads go
through family neighborhoods and are not built
for heavy traffic. What about safety issues
for residents? And who will pay for the upgrade of
these roads to handle the increased traffic?
Environmental Impacts:
The wetlands will not be able to filter out all
of the
pollution from the parking lot runoff.
These pollutants will then run into Shedd Brook,
Beard Brook and finally into the Contoocook.
These pollutants will also find their way into
one of the largest and untainted aquifers in Hillsborough
which is just across the Bypass from this site.
For more on the environmental impact read this
report.
Contoocook North Branch River Local Advisory
Committee letter to DES
The lights over 14+ acres of parking, even
when they are special down-lights, will have a
profound impact on Hillsborough's night sky,
dimming out many of the stars we are lucky
enough to see.
Historic
District Impacts:
Wal-Mart will heavily and negatively impact the
Historic Lower Village and the Franklin Pierce
Homestead with traffic. Our historic areas
are some of
the jewels of Hillsborough and New Hampshire! Developing
this end of town with large commercial stores
will lead to eroding of property frontage with
the need for wider roads. The quaint
Historic Village persona will be lost with the
eventual major road thoroughfare.
So How Can
We Say NO?
Site Plan Regulations:
Click here for our town's
Site Plan Regulations that give our Planning
Board the ability to say NO to this proposal.
(taken from the Town of Hillsborough's Code
Book)
Other
Information:
HCPG
Letter to Planning
Board regarding
Impact Studies
Applied Economics Research Impact Study
(Note that in this study there was no reference to HCPG's requested studies on
Impact to Municipal Utilities/Services or Community Impacts.)
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