The Wawarsing Planning Board meeting for March has come and gone, and the board has decided to allow Walmart's application to move ahead without any further review under the State Environmental Review Act. The result is unsurprising.

Given the loud (and sometimes intimidating) support the retailer has received at the three sessions of the public hearing begun last November, it seemed like a given that the planning board, the project's lead agency, would fast-track the application in whatever capacity possible. Hearing residents' cries of outrage and disbelief that the store would not be open until 2011, the planning board likely hopes that the wait will be shortened if they issue a negative declaration, meaning the retailer can move ahead with their application without conducting further environmental impact studies and mitigation plans.

One aspect of the State Environmental Quality Review (SEQR) process the board had to address before issuing the negative declaration involved economic impact; they decided that the store will have a positive impact on the community because of the 200 jobs that have been promised.

That the store will employ many people is undeniable. This fact has been cited as the main reason residents want the store to make its way here. For the people who are currently unemployed and looking for work close to home, getting a job at Walmart will put money in their pockets, and put food on their tables.

But did the planning board have any evidence or studies on what the economic impact will be on the stores around the area once Walmart arrives? While this is only one aspect of the SEQR review, it is arguably one of the most important. When Walmart creates those 200 jobs, how many jobs will be eliminated if competing stores are put out of business or otherwise hurt? Why did the planning board not ask for further economic impact review? The fact that it may not be legally required does not mean that it should be glossed over as unimportant. Sometimes the bare minimum is not enough.

Furthermore, what about the many voices calling for a positive declaration? Putting aside those hired with vested interests in seeing the project slowed, the planning board received calls from Ulster County Legislature Chair David Donaldson and Sullivan County Legislature Vice Chair Ron Hiatt, each of whom offered their experiences with the store and both advised a positive declaration. And what about the Ulster County Planning Board? These are people who have much more experience with large-scale development — and it didn't take them four months of deliberation to call for a positive declaration on the project…it took them only one night. With all this extremely reliable guidance, why did the planning board choose to ignore their recommendations?

That the Ellenville Board of Trustees passed their resolution offering sweeping support for the store is similarly troubling. Several stores in the village — known as the economic center of the town itself — will likely feel the economic impact of Walmart's arrival, and their ability to offer merchandise at lower prices. That they will be impacted, and not necessarily in a positive way, is another concept that seems to have been swept under the proverbial rug.

Sadly, that neither the village nor town board (which grandfathered Walmart's application under the former, less stringent zoning codes in January) want to examine the real-world and potentially disastrous effects the store's arrival will have on the area is just as unsurprising as the planning board's issuance of a negative declaration. It's yet another sign of municipal leadership satisfied to be penny-wise, and pound-foolish.

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