PLAISTOW — A nightmare on Main Street.
That's what opponents of a proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter at the corner of Main Street and Route 125 are calling it.
And some of them have launched a grassroots campaign to encourage residents to vote against a warrant article to rezone three lots to accommodate the proposal.
Residents who oppose the project say it's not about Wal-Mart specifically, it's about the traffic they believe will clog Main Street if the store is built on the site. They fear shoppers will use Main Street, not Route 125, to get there.
"I love Wal-Mart. I drive to the Supercenter in Epping," said Merilyn Senter, a former state representative. "I'd love to see a Supercenter here in Plaistow."
But she doesn't want to see it at that corner.
Senter said the last Rockingham County Planning Commission traffic count clocked 7,000 cars going up and down Main Street daily. It showed Main Street was already impacted by traffic headed toward the shopping centers on Route 125, she said, and adding a Wal-Mart would make the situation worse.
Wal-Mart, which has a store at 58 Plaistow Road, previously announced its plans to build a new store, with a grocery, on the corner lot beside Sanborn's Candy. But it's not a done deal.
The company's lawyer, Peter Imse of Concord, has implied Wal-Mart needs additional land. Imse said three house lots on Main Street are either under purchase-and-sale agreements or are in negotiations.
But voters at Town Meeting March 10 would have to OK rezoning the three lots to commercial to facilitate Wal-Mart's project.
The Planning Board opted not to put the rezoning change on the warrant, so it went on as a citizen petition.
Twenty-year resident David Averill has launched an e-mail campaign in an effort to defeat the warrant article. And he thinks it can be done.
"Oh, absolutely," he said. "I don't see why people would be motivated to come out and vote for it."
Averill, a Main Street resident, estimated he has about 100 families on his mailing list,
"It's not anything against Wal-Mart," Averill said. "It's not wanting to have any giant box store on Main Street."
Some residents report receiving phone calls recently that were gauging opposition to the article. And some think Wal-Mart's behind the calls.
Alex Sierra, a spokeswoman for the giant discounter, would not confirm the company is canvassing residents in advance of the vote March 10.
"Unfortunately, I just can't comment right now about the project," Sierra said.
Averill said he isn't intimidated.
"It's not like crowds with pitchforks are coming out over this," Averill said. "All you can do is reach out and let people know it's a safety issue and it's just changing the character of Main Street. It's a bad site to develop."
Jan Blinn, wife of Selectman Charles Blinn, received a call about the question last week.
"They just said they were taking a survey to see who wanted a Wal-Mart and who didn't," she said. "And before I answered, I asked him if there were more pros than cons. He said more people seemed to be against it. Then he said we have a tight little community and I said, 'Yes, and we're proud of it'"
Blinn, a Main Street resident, said although she personally opposes the Wal-Mart move, she was unaware any group of residents had banded together to protest.
"What protest?" said Planning Board member Peter Bealo when asked if he knew of any residents who were uniting to defeat the petition.
As an elected official, Bealo said, he could not comment, although he is on the record against a Wal-Mart at that location.
"I think we have to take control of Main Street," he said.
Bealo wrote a citizen petition related to the controversy. The petition originally asked Town Meeting to reclassify a section of Main Street from a state road to a town road.
The intent was to "take ownership of Main Street" in case Wal-Mart or another big company moved into the corner at Main Street and Route 125. But voters at the deliberative session changed the article because the financial impact was unknown.
The amended article now calls for studying the impact of reclassifying the entire length of Main Street — from the Hampstead town line to the Massachusetts state line. The study must be completed by Dec. 1, 2009.
Selectmen's Chairman John Sherman said previously the question March 10 is simple. If people want to stop Wal-Mart, they should vote against the citizen petition.
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