Walmart's Application for New Spencer Street Location Could Be Approved Monday

A new a 158,420 square-foot Walmart Supercenter located at 205 Spencer St. could be approved after the Planning and Zoning Commission continues its public hearing into the proposal as part of its next meeting on Monday, Dec. 3. 

The proposal has already faced several delays, and when a public hearing to review Walmart's request for a special exception needed to construct the store in the proposed zone was opened as part of the previous meeting of the Planning and Zoning Commission, Nov. 19, the hearing was continued until the next meeting, which is scheduled for this coming Monday. 

Colin McNamara told Patch that he was one of about seven people who attended the last public hearing and that he spoke out against Walmart's application because he feared another retail giant in town would hurt local Manchester businesses. 

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"There is no doubt that the development of a new Walmart Supercenter would put the squeeze on already struggling small business's in the area and that this isn't an issue that we should put our heads in the sand over," McNamara told Patch in an email. 

Senior Planner Renata Bertotti said the PZC could choose to grant the special exception at Monday's meeting, decide to again table the decision and continue to keep the public hearing open to allow for more testimony and information to be provided, or outright deny Walmart's request. 

"There is a lot of staff comments," Berotti said of Walmart's proposal. 

Planning Department and pertain mainly to drainage issues, parking and traffic questions. 

If approved, the new Walmart store, which would be built on the site of the former Manchester Kmart location, would be the second Walmart location in town. Earlier this year, the PZC approved a separate application from WalMart to expand its current store at 420 Buckland Hills Dr. by 439 square feet.