Groton Open Space Association

Wal-Mart Wins Split IWA OK For Super Store Near Reservoir

GROTON — The Inland Wetlands Agency voted 4-1 on Nov. 12, 2008, to approve a revision of a previously approved plan to build a Wal-Mart Super Center on Route 184 near the Groton Utilities drinking water reservoir.

Voting for approval were agency members David Scott, chairman; Eunice Sutphen, secretary; Barbara Williams; and Robert L. Ashworth.

Alternate member Mary Ellen Furlong voted against the proposed revision. She voted in the absence of member Barbara Block.

The IWA had originally approved the project, to which it had assigned a “minor” potential impact status, in 2006. The agency turned down a first application for revision on June 11, 2008. The revision approved Nov. 12 was the second application for a revision.

The Planning Commission denied in February of 2007 an earlier version of the plan. Konover Acquisitions LLC, the would-be Wal-Mart developer, lost an appeal of that decision to the Superior Court in May 2008.

The IWA motion to approve said that Konover’s proposed stormwater management revisions would result in better quality of water discharge than the management plan previously approved in 2006.

Ms. Furlong, who dissented, said that the Material Safety Data Sheet for the material to be used on Wal-Mart’s seven-acre roof said the material was carcinogenic. She also noted that Groton Utilities, which is responsible for the nearby drinking water reservoir, had requested no decision be made prior to GU’s signing with Konover of a memorandum of understanding on protection of the reservoir. No signing had as yet taken place, she said.

She also said extra caution should be exercised by the IWA in view of the sensitivity and importance of the drinking water supply and considering Wal-Mart’s blemished environmental record in Connecticut. On Aug. 15, 2005, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal and Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Gina McCarthy announced a $1.15 million settlement with Wal-Mart “involving environmental violations at 22 stores related to stormwater and other water management issues.”