A Walmart delivery depot proposed for the Home Depot plaza on Webster Avenue goes back before the Chelsea Zoning Board of Appeals in October, and one city councillor used his time at Monday night’s council meeting to tell residents on both sides of the question to show up.
“I’ve been receiving quite a few calls and emails and paying attention to the concerns about the Walmart coming to the plaza where Home Depot is located,” District 2 Councillor Deron Hines said during public announcements. He urged anyone who wants to be heard to attend the October hearing, and then made a point of extending the invitation the other way: “Anybody who is interested in having this company come, if you want to advocate on behalf, please also attend this meeting. Elevate the voices of the community, be a part of the process.”
What is being proposed
The project is a 25,000-square-foot Walmart Depot in the existing plaza. It is not a store. The building would hold high-volume everyday items for same-day delivery, generally within one to two hours, to customers inside roughly a 30-minute radius. The public would not shop there. Orders would leave with approved Walmart drivers.
That distinction is doing a lot of work in the permitting fight. A retail store in that space would draw customer traffic all day. A fulfillment building draws vans. Which of those generates more trips, and what kind, is the question in front of the board.
Where it stands
The Planning Board took up the proposal in August and recommended that the Zoning Board of Appeals deny the special permit, citing traffic and the proposed use. The Planning Board continued its own site plan review rather than closing it.
The ZBA held a second public hearing in mid-September. Walmart’s team came back with a new traffic study arguing that the depot would generate considerably less traffic than other businesses already in the plaza, and less than other retail uses that could occupy the same 25,000 square feet. ZBA Chair Janice Tatarka said the board appreciated the updated information but wanted more time with the traffic study before voting, and continued the hearing to October, as reported by the Chelsea Record.
The council is not the decider, and it has still taken sides
The city council has no vote on a special permit. Individual councillors have weighed in anyway. Councillors Kelly Garcia, Manuel Teshe and Norieliz DeJesus submitted letters of support. Councillor-at-Large Leo Robinson has been publicly opposed, saying he does not see a benefit for the people of Chelsea and questioning the traffic assumptions. Former Councillor Roy Avellaneda has argued the other way, treating a company of Walmart’s size choosing Chelsea as a mark of the city’s standing.
Hines did not state a position on Monday. He asked people to come to the hearing.
City Manager Fidel Maltez reached for the same project as an example at a public forum five days earlier, when he was asked about the hardest part of his job. People want a problem solved immediately, he said, “whether it’s a parking ticket or a homeless issue, or a Walmart coming to their neighborhood,” and the job is to take in as much information as possible and pick the least bad tradeoff, knowing the city is often wrong.
What to watch
The October ZBA date had not been posted when the council met. The board’s decision turns on the special permit and on whether the new traffic study answers what the Planning Board objected to. The Planning Board’s site plan review is still open, which is a separate track from the permit.
Anyone who wants the hearing date as soon as it is posted, or who has the traffic study itself, can write to [email protected].