Opponents of a planned Wegmans in Columbia say traffic would overwhelm the streets, and some say the traffic study of the area underestimated the volume.
“I think the traffic study needs to be revisited,” said Donald Harman, a Columbia resident who lives a few blocks from the site for the proposed two-story, 160,000-square-foot Wegmans Food Market at the intersection of Snowden River Parkway and McGaw Road in Howard.
To accommodate the store, which is about twice the size of an average grocery store, the company agreed to make road improvements to the 12-acre site, including extending a turn lane and installing a light at the entrance, according to the county?s report on the project.
Howard?s planners approved the final plan for the project, which included the traffic study, conducted by the Baltimore-based Traffic Group, and Wegmans? road improvements.
“We?ve met all the criteria,” said Richard Talkin, an attorney representing Wegmans.
But residents said at Thursday?s Planning Board meeting that the traffic study used low estimates of road use.
Snowden River Parkway “as it is now is not adequate” and often congested, said resident Ron Yaffe.
Pennsylvania-based traffic engineer Frank Tavani, who prepared his own traffic review on behalf of Wegmans opponents, said the traffic analysis failed to take into account the size of the store and traffic generated on Saturdays.
Attorney Susan Gray, representing resident Carvel Mays, who opposes Wegmans, said she has appealed the approval of the final plan.
The Planning Board delayed its decision until later this month on the building plan. The board must approve a proposed clock tower, which would extend beyond the building?s 50-foot limit. Wegmans officials called the clock tower a “trademark element” of new stores.
