Residents worried about noise from new Wal-Mart store

04/20/2006
Residents worried about noise from new Wal-Mart store
By: Tiffany Williams , Courier staff

SOUTH COUNTY - The impending arrival of a new Wal-Mart Supercenter on Sawdust Road has sparked an outcry from residents who say they dread the noise, aesthetics and traffic issues that might accompany the mega store. But residents in the nearby neighborhoods of High Oaks and Grogan's Point might receive a welcome reprieve from Wal-Mart for problems the store would generate even before the Supercenter is constructed.

In February, Spring Woodlands Church of Christ, located at 1021 Sawdust Road, sold a 17-acre tract of land to representatives from Wal-Mart, which plans to move from its current Wal-Mart discount store at 610 Sawdust Road. Wal-Mart also purchased an area adjacent to the church, acquiring 34 acres, which will allow room for smaller standalone stores on their land. Spring Woodlands Church of Christ has until February 2007 to vacate the premises, said Stephen Kelley, minister of administration for the church.

Bruce Cunningham, president of the Grogan's Mill Village Association, said Thursday he met with Kimberly Randle, senior public affairs manager for Wal-Mart Stores Inc., who agreed to plant trees along 100 feet between the homes and the new Supercenter. The greenbelt will buffer residents from construction clamor while the store is built and traffic racket thereafter. Twenty-five parcels, most of them homes, in the High Oaks subdivision back up to Spring Woodlands Church of Christ, according to the Community Associations of The Woodlands. "The people there thought they were going to have a church behind their property, not Wal-Mart," Cunningham said.

But Cunningham said he was encouraged by the mega store's response to the request. "I thought they were quite accommodating," Cunningham said. "They were very open and obviously wanted to be good neighbors." He said trees planted along the backside of homeowners' property on Dreamweaver Circle, the property directly behind Spring Woodlands Church of Christ, will screen residents' homes from the new store, adding privacy and hopefully relieving some of the tension from homeowners vehemently opposed to the relocation.

But Becki Borth, a resident of nearby Grogan's Point, said the corporation's efforts are not enough. "It will hurt the sale of houses," Borth said. "Who wants to live in the vicinity of a giant Wal-Mart?" She said Wal-Mart should remain at its current location rather than expand across the street. "I don't understand why they are going through the extra effort to build a 100-foot barrier when they could just use what they already have. They are going to leave that empty building torn up and vacant and tear down the gorgeous trees and land." Borth said one of her greatest concerns is the traffic problems the new store will create.

Sawdust Road, which completed construction to upgrade the road less than a year ago, is a main thoroughfare into the Grogan's Point subdivision. "Our road cannot handle it," she said. "How can Wal-Mart guarantee there won't be any traffic problems? We just got our Sawdust back after years of crammed traffic."

But Precinct 3 Commissioner Ed Chance said building a Supercenter on the property is a more appealing alternative to other companies that wanted to move onto the land. Chance said one company would have employed 4,000 people. "It would have been horrendous to move those employees in and out of the property at 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. every day," he said. "Something had to be developed on that site. In my opinion, while Wal-Mart creates a lot of traffic, it is much better for the infrastructure than the other companies we talked to."

Randle, the company's spokesperson for the area, said Wal-Mart has been working proactively to address the traffic issues. "We're working in accordance with a traffic study," Randle said. She also said the company could not remain at the current location on Sawdust Road because the size of a Supercenter necessitates more land than is available at the old site. "We certainly did explore any variety of opportunities as we looked at relocating," said Randle, adding that the store is also actively looking for a buyer for the current store. "We have an entire realty department that is dedicated to putting those types of properties back into commerce."

This isn't the first time a corporation has made concessions for residents in The Woodlands. In 2004, H-E-B added a greenbelt to block noise from late-night deliveries in the Dove Trace neighborhood of the Village of Indian Springs. Debra Staley, with The Woodlands Development Company, said TWDC supported residents who wanted the greenbelt, but ultimately the responsibility belonged to the landowners. "They did the right thing," she said. "They put the trees there."

TWDC could not intervene in Sawdust Road's Wal-Mart issue, however, because the land is outside the development company's jurisdiction, said Lorrie Parise, marketing manager for TWDC.

Cunningham said residents who showed up to Monday's Grogan's Mill Village Association meeting expressed concerns about Wal-Mart patrons who might wander off the store's property into their neighborhood. He said the village might request a fence be built to keep customers as far away as possible from resident's homes. Randle said the chance Wal-Mart will foot the bill for a fence is unlikely. "A 100-foot greenbelt is a substantial buffer," she said. "I don't expect there will be a fence around the site."

By the numbers:
783 parcels of land in the High Oaks subdivision near or adjacent to new Wal-Mart on Sawdust
574 parcels in Grogan's Point off Sawdust Road
25 parcels directly adjacent to Wal-Mart

Source: Community Associations of The Woodlands

Wal-Mart's presence in Texas:
254 Supercenters
70 Sam's Clubs
61 Discount stores

Source: Wal-Mart Facts Online

Tiffany Williams can be reached at twilliams@hcnonline.com.