ELLENVILLE – Once again, the continued public hearing for Walmart's application to build a store at the Napanoch Valley Mall property brought more than a hundred people to the first-floor courtroom at the village's Government Center on Tuesday night.

Upon entering the packed room, meeting-goers were handed a blue flyer by members of the Empire State Regional Council of Carpenters, which read, in part, "Walmart wants you to fund their global company's profits without supporting the local working people or our area standard wages." The flyer alleged that Walmart would hire out-of-state contractors to work on the proposed project, keeping the area's skilled tradesmen from having the chance to find a job with the project. This was just a preview of one of a few criticisms levied against the retailer during an evening which loudly echoed the previous two sessions of the public hearing.

When the public hearing was reopened at about 8 p.m., Planning Board Chairman Marty Lonstein asked that anyone present who had not spoken at previous sessions of the hearing go to the podium first, prompting resident Tom Gale to speak before the board. He said he was concerned about the damage that the proposed store may do to the scenic byway project that he helped work on during Dr. Richard Craft's tenure as Town Supervisor. He implored the planning board to "hold Walmart to very high standards."

After Gale came Brian Alvarez, a Napanoch resident "within walking distance of the Valley Mall."

"In order to get out of this mess, we need corporate giants like Walmart to produce fair paying jobs to local people that pump the money back into the local economy. Otherwise, we will watch them destroy our area's standard wages, and our community, in the process. I will respectfully ask the board to require this commitment to the community from Walmart before granting them any approvals," he said, after which he received a round of applause.

Ron Hiatt, Vice Chairman of the Sullivan County Legislature, spoke before the board next, and he commented on the hiring practices of Walmart, saying that when the store first came to Monticello seven years ago, employees were given full-time jobs with benefits. But these jobs started giving way to more and more part-time positions. He pointed out the public cost of workers losing their full-time jobs, saying that this increases people's dependence on Medicaid and public assistance, thereby forcing them to subsist off of county-taxpayers.

"What troubles me the most, it seems to me that these powerful individuals are squeezing it out of the people to whom they owe the most loyalty — they're own workers. It's oppressive, as far as I'm concerned," said Hiatt. "I'm not anti-business, or anti-Walmart, but I don't like the way they treated their employees in Sullivan County."

Planning Board Deputy Chairman John Constable asked Hiatt to speak on the positive influence on neighboring property values after Walmart's arrival. "It's true, there was an increase," replied Hiatt. "But it's like a tide: it goes up one place, it goes down someplace else. You're welcome to come to downtown Broadway in Monticello, you'll see of empty stores."

Charlie Vielie spoke on behalf of the Empire State Regional Council of Carpenters, saying, he was "Very, very concerned about the impact that the Walmart project will have to the local economy, to the construction, and local people working on their jobs."

"We have seen other areas of the country where Walmart has made some commitments to use labor which pays the area-standards, which is what we're talking about…These individuals live here, they pay taxes here, and they want to be able to shop in the store, and we want to make sure that that happens. We would like to see the board require that Walmart does use that practice on this particular practice, so they do not hurt our local economy," he said.

With that, Chairman Lonstein opened the floor to people who'd spoken at previous sessions of the public hearing. Steve Krulick of Wawarsing-Ellenville for Responsible Development (WERD) stood and distributed a letter to the planning board, from which he read as well. The letter accused the Wawarsing Town Board of having "pulled a fast one," referring to a late-January resolution "grandfathering in" pending planning board applications, allowing them to continue their applications under the old zoning code, rather than the updated zoning which was passed at the same meeting. He went on to explain why the planning board must make a positive declaration on the project, which would thereby require Walmart to conform with the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA), a law passed after Valley Mall site had been built.

"An old building, with possible toxins, would be torn down; a new building of unprecedented size would be going up on a different footprint; acres would be regarded; wetlands and trees would be disturbed…and one huge economic siphon would suddenly be imposed on a relatively stable and fragile local economy, with a major impact on existing employment and economic infrastructure of many years standing," read Krulick.

After Krulick, several other residents joined him in their calls for a full environmental review, which would include a study of how the store would impact the area's local economy: ShopRite employee Romina Villardi said that she was afraid for her job security with the threat of Walmart's arrival, calling for a full-environmental review; residents John Adams and Diane Krulick (wife of Steve) both called for a positive declaration.

At this point, several residents in attendance jeered the speakers from their seats, actually prompting Chairman Lonstein to reprimand the audience, asking for respect, and allowing everyone to speak their piece.

Not to let those criticizing the proposed store monopolize the public forum, Bella Volchik of Napanoch Valley Wines and Liquors and Katherine's Korner, two stores at the current mall site, said the planning board was smart enough to keep from issuing a positive declaration, accusing the calls for such a "stall tactic."

"All the businesses in the mall will be out of business if we don't have that light at the end of the tunnel," said Volchik, inferring that, without Walmart's pending arrival, the business-owners at the mall will be forced to close doors. One such business, LR Cards, has already done so, it should be noted.

Resident Cathy Link also spoke, saying that Walmart would provide jobs to the area, and that ShopRite doesn't offer the kind of jobs that would help people survive the current economic climate.

A consultant retained by ShopRite, Matthew Rudikoff, also distributed a packet of information to the board, saying that the planning board's duty here wasn't to stop Walmart from coming, but to ask questions to make sure that the project was the best it could be, and would benefit the town. He also accused Walmart's lawyers of providing incorrect information regarding their economic impact on the town, though the specifics of his conflict were not readily available as of press time.

Finally, representatives from Walmart were able to speak about some of the small modifications they'd made to their site plan, including their decision to use bluestone, a regional stone they will incorporate into the veneer of both their retail store and the smaller building they will create for the US Post Office and other tenants at the mall, including Volchik's two stores and the Chinese restaurant.

The application was set to be reviewed by the Ulster County Planning Board on March 4, after which their comments would be forwarded to the Wawarsing Planning Board. Having heard from everyone who wished to speak, the planning board held the public hearing open until a further date, likely the next regular meeting, set for March 24.

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