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1/2/2006
On 12/29/2005 the Town of
Highlights of the Town of
- With the
Wal-Mart mitigation there will
still be intersections with failing levels of service such as Route
57 at John Glenn Blvd-westbound at evening rush hour, Route 57 at
- The
operation of the fire station on Route 57
or
- “Nevertheless,
the issue of the degree to
which local law enforcement agencies will be involved in on-site
security and related safety issues as well as off-site traffic and
pedestrian safety issues, not only in the Town of Salina and the Town
of Clay, but in the Village of Liverpool and by the Village of
Liverpool Police department remains uncertain”.
- The “average
accident rate is above the
statewide average rate” for the section of Route 57 or
- “This
Planning Board is concerned that
accident and pedestrian safety data supporting the conclusions of the
applicant relative to the increase in traffic resulting from the
project in the Village of Liverpool, were not provided with the Final
EIS and that sufficient data were not collected at the Sixth
Street/Route 57 intersections or at other pedestrian crossings in the
Village.”
- “These
concerns over potential pedestrian
safety, particularly school children crossing Route 57 in the
- The
development of the planned out parcels
on-site are yet identified and how their future use may adversely
impact the area remain uncertain.
- This
development is inconsistent with the
Johnson Tract residential area immediate to the east of the site.
- “The
potential change in the character of the
- “Potentially
adverse effects of the project
particularly on the character of the
- this
project will increase the amount of
traffic traveling through the
How can
the Salina Planning Board find all these areas “deficient”, “uncertain”
and
“detrimental”, admit that data is omitted, and that “concerns” remain
AND still
say there is no environmental impact?
The
Watch here for more
information and future action as the
Tonight the Town of Salina Planning Board accepted the Final Environmental Imapct Statement prepared by Wal-Mart and opended a 20 day public comment period extending through Decemeber 21, 2005. They also set December 29, 2005 at 7:00 PM as the date to vote on whether the project moves ahead. NOW is the time to act. This is our final opprotunity to voice our strong objections to this project on this site. Please take this opprotunity to write a letter to the Town Planning Board.
All letters should be addressed to Town of Salina Planning Board c/o Town Clerk, 201 School Road, Liverpool, NY 13088. They need to be received by Dec. 21.
11/26/2005
A revised copy of the Final Environmental Impact Statement was submitted to Town of
Please attend this meeting to show our opposition to this project at this site.
10/25/2005
On Oct 20, 2005 the Town of
Great News...
We
recently learned of another
August 30,2006 Wal-Mart engineers submitted the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the proposed Wal-Mart on Route 57 and Liverpool By-Pass to Salina Town Planning Board for their review.
LiverpoolFIRST has made a copy of the FEIS available at the
Please watch for new information as soon as it is available.
The second work session between Wal-Mart officials and Town of Salina Planning Board was held May 5. There were more than 100 LiverpoolFIRST supporters in attendance. While there was very little new information given out, it was much easier for the audience to hear both parties.
Wal-Mart engineer Greg Sgromo updated the Board on their findings with respect to drainage issues on the creek that runs along the proposed property.
Sgromo continued to insist that there will be minimum impact on the Village of Liverpool traffic if Wal-Mart were to be built on the edge of the Village of Liverpool and that any impact it does have can be alleviated with signal timing changes.
LiverpoolFIRST strongly disagrees with this stance!
Our traffic studies show a major impact on village intersections at a time when the Village is working diligently toward a comprehensive plan that will emphasize traffic-calming measures and a pedestrian friendly village center.
If Wal-Mart were allowed to destroy our Village community it would be a great injustice to the entire Liverpool community.
We CANNOT allow the Wal-Mart team of engineers and attorneys to win this battle. Measures such as agreeing to clean out a creek or put up a traffic signal are designed to make them look like the "good guys."
Please continue to support our efforts.
Planning Board officials extended the deadline for Wal-Mart’s submission of the Final Environmental Impact Statement until the end of June. Planning board officials will then have thirty days to deem the FEIS as complete. If a “complete” determination is made then a public comment period is mandated.
Planning Board Attorney Mark Grobosky indicated this public comment period cannot be less than ten days, but it has been this board's policy to extend that to thirty days. Grobosky also indicated that a Public Comment hearing may be in order at that time. We will wait to hear from planning board on that.
A decision is expected by sometime in the fall. Between now and then there may be several more meetings where we can only sit and listen. Let's be patient, but let's also remember that our presence at these meetings tells the board that we are determined to keep Wal-Mart from constructing their massive structure on the proposed location.
Again, thanks for your continued support.
04/26/2005
A
second
work session is
scheduled between
Wal-Mart
officials have asked for and received a one month extension
for completing the Final Environmental Impact Statement. The Town
of
The
Interested citizens were able to listen
although it was very difficult to hear much
of what was said.
The parties discussed where Wal-Mart
stands on:
- traffic
studies and proposed road configurations,
- drainage issues, storage container
issues.
- enhanced green area (drawings shown)
- building and property layouts (drawings
shown)
Planning Board
members expressed a
great deal of concern over the intersection of Meyers Road and Route
57. Members expressed a strong desire for a traffic light for this
intersection with
controls for Fire Station needs, and further study of traffic counts
for this
area.
Wal-Mart officials
stated they would
need longer to complete their work on the FEIS. They indicated
they would
ask for another month or two extension.
This meeting was
intended for
Wal-Mart officials to be able to bring the Planning Board up-to-date on
where
the FEIS stands. It does not indicate any "direction" that the
Planning Board might be leaning on approval of disapproval of this
proposal.
Rest assured that
LiverpoolFIRST
still maintains that nothing has changed and all the issues that were
raised in
public comment period still stand. This is the wrong location
for
Wal-Mart.
Thank you to the
hundred or so
members who were able to attend and a big THANK YOU for giving the
board your
respect by listening courteously.
Sincerely,
Sharon R. Fulmer
Spokesperson
LiverpoolFIRST
Earlier...
Public Comment period closed on October 7, 2004. Wal-Mart is preparing the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) addressing all the environmental issues that were raised in the public comment period and the proposed "solutions" to these concerns. As stated by the clear majority during the public comment hearings and the hundreds and hundreds of letters that have flowed into Town Hall, LiverpoolFIRST maintains that there are a multitude of issues that cannot be adequately mitigated.
EARLIER:
A second Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) has been accepted by the Town of Salina Planning Board.
Thursday, June 24, 2004 the Town of Salina Planning Board accepted as "complete" the second Draft Environmental Impact Statement by Wal-Mart. By accepting the DEIS as "complete" the Town of Salina Planning Board has ruled that Wal-Mart has addressed all areas that the Town determined were going to be impacted. This acceptance does not mean that the Town accepts this information as accurate nor does it mean the Town agrees that the project is acceptable. See the Post Standard Story ...
http://www.syracuse.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-5/108815255478271.xml?syrneosne
The DEIS is available for review by the public at The Liverpool Public Library and Town of Salina Planning Board Offices.
Express your concern about this location for a store of this size. If you haven't already written a letter to town officials, please see the links below [Write Your Own Letter, Send Pre-Written Letter] to help you complete that task. Together we can send a clear and powerful message that the residents of Salina and surrounding neighborhoods in Clay do not want this Wal-Mart Supercenter as our neighbor.
Thank you County Executive Nicholas Pirro
LiverpoolFIRST received a letter from Nick Pirro, our Onondaga County Executive, a copy of one he had sent to Wal Mart executives in Bentonville, Arkansas. In it he suggests to them that building one of their supercenters on Route 57 at the Liverpool Bypass is not a good idea. Read his whole letter County Executive Letter
I'd like to thank Nick on behalf of each of you, members of LiverpoolFIRST!
I'd also like to thank all of you who continue to flooded the town hall, the Salina Planning Board and the local newspapers with your letters of concern and opposition.
If you haven't had an opportunity to write a letter yet, please do so (see next section). It is important that the Town of Salina Planning Board is aware of our concerns and that as many people as possible share those concerns.
Thanks for being a part of LiverpoolFIRST. Some day soon we’ll be facing another public hearing and we will ask that each of you plan to attend – and to bring along a friend!
Sincerely,
Sharon R. Fulmer
Spokesperson
LiverpoolFIRST
News
Coverage of Pirro Letter
Pirro asks Wal-Mart to
reconsider
He says Supercenter 'not right' for Liverpool
Tuesday, May 25, 2004
Syracuse Newspapers by BoNhia Lee
"Onondaga County Executive Nicholas Pirro has written a letter to Wal-Mart officials, asking them to rethink their plan for a supercenters store in Liverpool...." Read the full story ...
http://www.syracuse.com/news/poststandard/index.ssf?/base/news-5/1085474315220051.xml
Another Plea from Our Spokesperson
Spokesperson Sharon Fulmer has asked all LiverpoolFIRST members and any interested parties to write to The Town of Salina Planning Board to express our opposition to the proposed Wal-Mart on Route 57 at the Liverpool By-Pass.
....Collectively, we can stop this project from going forward- and every voice counts. You can help our cause by writing a letter to the Town of Salina Planning Board, as well as local newspapers to let them know of your opposition to this project...Read Whole Plea Here
Write
Your Own
Letter
Send
Pre-Written
Letter
NEW!!!
Wal-Mart Fined For Clean Water Act
Violations
This article currently
appears on the FOX News website. It relates to clean water
violations stemming from excessive runoff at 200 Wal-Mart construction
and store sites.
Please read the
full text on the Newspaper Page
More...
"Liverpool
is not for sale."
Liverpool
First has issued a press release in response to the recent mailing sent
by Wal-Mart to homes in the area.
"This is a fluff-piece designed to soft sell the idea of plunking down a huge high-traffic development in a residential area," said Sharon Fulmer, LiverpoolFIRST spokesperson. "It is misleading and area residents should not be fooled..."
Please
read the full text on the Newspaper
page.
Liverpool
is a community made up of residents,
businesspeople, and those who come to visit, shop, or enjoy our
numerous parks.
We support local businesses because money from the community goes back into the community, not out to a corporate headquarters in a distant state.
More
important than business and money is a sense of TRUST.
Would
Wal-Mart take care of the local people like Liverpool residents and
businesspeople do? CLICK HERE
to
see an example of community caring in action.
A
warning from the Syracuse Post-Standard
"Town of Salina planners
need to ensure that the proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter does not worsen
the rush-hour bottlenecks in and around the village of Liverpool..."
Please
read the full text on the Newspaper page.
Wal-Mart
drafts plans to ease traffic
"Wal-Mart
plans to create three entrances with traffic lights to solve traffic
problems that have opponents and the town of Salina concerned about the
proposed Supercenter."
... '''I think their method of solving traffic issues is they're not going to solve anything," said Sharon Fulmer, chair of the group LiverpoolFIRST. "They're only going to create a lot more (traffic) than we already have.'"
"If the store is built, more traffic will flow in the village and around Morgan Road, she said."
Please
read the full text on at this
Post-Standard page.
A reader of this website wrote in:
"Here is an analysis of the real costs of having a big box, category killer type store move into your town:
Local Ownership Pays Off For Communities
"You say "The biggest negative impact of a Wal-Mart superstore would be increased traffic through the village", but this may not be the case. The biggest effect would the departure of real dollars from Liverpool combined with the overall increase in cost to the village of having Wal-Mart move in at all.
"The analysis is very
good insofar as it quantifies the predicted financial impact in clearly
understandable language and transparent examples."
News from other
parts of the country
We can learn from other
towns that have experienced a Wal-Mart.
One example:
Ancillary
costs offset Wal-Mart tax windfall
In Port Richey, Florida, "...The expected financial windfall (of a Wal-Mart Supercenter) hasn't materialized. Wal-Mart pays $75,000 in city property taxes, or the approximate equivalent of the salary and benefits for two police officers. ... The (police) department blew its $22,180 overtime budget by $50,000 five months before the end of the fiscal year" due to increases in demands made on the police.
Hundreds
turn out for town board meeting
January
15, 2004
On a bitterly cold evening with the temperature at six degrees below zero, over 200 supporters of LiverpoolFIRST attended a meeting of the Town of Salina Planning Board. They came despite the fact that they knew public comment would not be allowed at this meeting.
Frank Mento, the town engineer, said that Wal-Mart's draft environmental impact study (DEIS) was not to be accepted by the town as it did not completely address all the issues idenitfied in February, 2003.
Wal-Mart has no deadline to resubmit their DEIS. Members of the planning board did not comment past Mr. Mento's remarks. Once Wal-Mart resubmits the study, the board will have 30 days to review it, to accept it or reject it, for a second time.
Standing room only at Salina Town Planning
Board meeting
Message from Sharon Fulmer, spokersperson for LiverpoolFIRST
Thanks for the turnout!I would like to thank the hundreds of like-minded individuals that attended the town Planning Board meeting on January 15, 2004.
On a bone-chilling evening I was heartened to see such committment and support in opposition to a store of this size at this location. While none of us have yet been able to speak formally at a planning board meeting since this was first proposed over 15 months ago, the continued large turnout is testimony to the conviction of our community.
We will have our opportunity and we will be prepared!
Please continue to check this website for any new information we have.
Liverpool is a wonderful place to live, work and enjoy recreational opportunities. This proposal is only in the best interest of one party: Wal-Mart.
Thank you again to all who support us in keeping the "live" in Liverpool.
Sincerely,
Sharon R. Fulmer
Spokesperson
LiverpoolFIRST
New articles from newspapers
Two new articles, both out in January, 2004, have been sent to us by local readers of this website. Take a look on our newspaper page.Monday, June 16, 2003, Strawberry Shortcake Social
LiverpoolFIRST recently
circulated 12,000 informational flyers to homes in Salina, Clay and the
Village of Liverpool. Membership of LiverpoolFIRST has now
surpassed one thousand!
This event is being held to
keep the community at large informed about all the negative impacts
this store will have on the greater Liverpool community if it's allowed
to be built.
Feb. 27, 2003, Meeting Update
Town of Salina Planning Board members voted to give a positive declaration to Wal-Mart's proposal to build a 204,000 sq. ft Supercenter on Route 57 at the Liverpool By-Pass. This means that they found this project to have potential significant impact on more than one environmental area. It is now the responsibility of the applicant, in this case Wal-Mart, to prepare a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the board's review. Wal-Mart's counsel present at the meeting indicated that this DEIS would be ready within 30 days.
Liverpool First
encourages all those opposed to a Wal-Mart on this site to write or
email their elected officals.
Opposition
to Wal-Mart
Salina-area residents
pack planning board meeting
From Syracuse Post-Standard
"Neighbors Northwest"
November 22, 2002
By Pam Greene Staff
writer
"Hundreds of Salina-area residents armed with "Liverpool First" signs and stickers crowded into the gym at Salina Town Hall Thursday night to hear what Wal-Mart has planned for the town." (more)Unions stage protests at Wal-Mart stores
Union coloring books, crayons handed out at Wal-Mart in DeWitt
From Syracuse Post-Standard
Staff and news service reports
November 23, 2002 (see article)
Community Comments
"In the neighborhood where I live, I feel safe letting my grandchildren play outside because of the low traffic.
"Building a Wal-Mart right nearby would greatly increase the traffic congestion because more people from other areas would be coming there to shop - Mattydale and North Syracuse, for example. We're already congested enough in the village and don't need the added congestion. I have seen traffic held up for 20-30 minutes on Rt. 31 during heavy shopping times by Great Northern Mall and that is 4 lanes. I can't imagine what that level of traffic would do to our 2-3 zoned land environment, but I don't want to find out."
- Karen