DOVER — Developers of a proposed Wal-Mart Super Center off U.S. 13
between Dover and Cheswold were dressed down Thursday night by members
of the Kent County Regional Planning Commission, who complained loudly
that advocates of the project should have been better prepared.

Constantine
Malmberg, the local lawyer for Cheswold Village Properties LLC, and a
clutch of engineers tried to persuade commission members the project
would not worsen traditional flooding problems for residents who live
along Simms Woods Road, located at the northern edge of the proposed
site.

Commission members were angered Malmberg could not assure
that the store facade of Wal-Mart would not be of the “big blue box”
variety.

The commission held a public hearing Thursday night, but
was not slated to vote on a site plan until its meeting June 12.
Commission Chairman Albert Holmes Jr., said the project, in the works
since 2004, would be tabled at that time unless the developers came
bearing answers to a raft of questions raised by commission members.

“First
of all, there’s no way in the world I would want this next to my home,”
Vice Chairman Ken Edwards said, drawing applause from residents.

The
site plan calls for a 225,000-square-foot Super Center on 22 acres and
an adjacent strip shopping center offering 25,000 square feet of retail
floor space on seven acres just to the northeast. The two developments
would be served by a new traffic signal at a new access road on U.S.
13, about 1,000 feet south of Simms Woods Road.

In December 2004,
Levy Court agreed to rezone 33.5 acres located east of U.S. 13, south
of Simms Woods Road, from light industrial and agricultural
conservation to general business to accommodate Wal-Mart’s plans. But,
in deciding a lawsuit filed by residents, a Chancery Court judge
decided that Levy Court had illegally approved the rezoning by
resolution instead of by ordinance. That shortcoming was fixed by Levy
Court in May 2007.

Before and during the legal fight, representatives of Cheswold Village Properties LLC, a subsidiary of the Baltimore
development firm Trout, Segall & Doyle, would say only that the
site would play host to a shopping center anchored by a “big box”
retailer.

In February, Wal-Mart bought 22 acres from Cheswold
Village Properties as the site for its store. But, even then, a
Wal-Mart spokeswoman said the company had no immediate plans to build a
new store — although representatives of Cheswold Village Properties
already had talked to county planners about the project.

Malmberg
said many of the questions raised by commission members — including a
call for an earthen berm that would obstruct the view of the strip
center from an adjoining residential area — would be answered as
development of the site moves forward. He noted that Wal-Mart was not
the developer of the project and said the corporation, the world’s
largest retailer, was being unfairly taken to task for answers that
typically are not available at first review of a development site plan.

Commissioner
Paul Davis said that it was reasonable to expect a completed drainage
plan and architectural rendering of the buildings’ facades to be
available at Thursday’s hearing.

“This thing is not going to be rushed through the county,” Davis said.

“I like Wal-Mart, but I want it done right for the people.”