Now that it's been confirmed that Wal-Mart will be appearing before the Town of Wawarsing Planning Board at the end of this month on October 28, questions about the project to construct a Wal-Mart store at the site of the Napanoch Valley Mall on Route 209 will start to receive some more concrete answers.

Phil Serghini, the New York spokesperson for the company, spoke in a phone interview on Tuesday. Naturally, Wal-Mart's representatives will attend planning board meetings and discuss plans and suggestions with the planning board members who will guide the process in accordance with the laws and regulations of the Town of Wawarsing.

However, Serghini said that the company will often meet with residential neighbors of their new stores in order to address any concerns they may have.

"In the case where there are neighbors, we have on many occasions, had our representatives meet with the neighbors to outline the specifics of the project, because those folks don't always have time to go to every hearing, and a lot of it's a little technical, so we believe there's a secondary process especially when there are neighbors involved," said Serghini.

"We try to work with the neighbors on any concerns that they have, and if we can accommodate them in some way, we will." Serghini said one example of these kinds of accommodations could involve planting trees to mitigate line of sight issues residents may have.

"A lot of it depends on what the individuals want," he said.

Serghini went on to explain that the company will often host open houses, where residents of an area can gather to speak with representatives of the company and learn more about the project as it moves forward.

"We usually have a community open house, and we will rent out some convenient location in the area, and we will send a note to everyone in town inviting them to the event," he said. "This recognizes that not everybody has the time to go to the planning board hearing, but they may have questions about Wal-Mart, or about the project, and about the development. So we will host one of those, and we'll bring in our Wal-Mart experts, we'll bring in our consultants to talk about traffic, we'll have our site plan engineers there…you come in, you walk around, you go to various stations."

According to Serghini, the store will employ an estimated "250 associates," and "the average hourly wage in New York for full timers is $11.53 an hour… It could deviate from that a little bit, but that's the average for the regular full-time associates," he said.

The store will also measure 132,240 square feet, and will be a 'super center,' which combines their general retail merchandise with grocery merchandise.

When asked about whether or not he's heard any concerns from business owners about potential negative impacts the big-box retailer could have on Ellenville's downtown, Serghini said that he had not.

"I have heard none of that fear or concern expressed in Ellenville, and if it has [been expressed], I guess all I can say is that Wal-Mart believes that we peacefully coexist with other businesses, and in fact, in many cases, we actually drive business their way.

"[Businesses in favor of Wal-Mart] understand that shoppers will come to Wal-Mart, and that will create more business for everyone," he continued.

Former Village of Ellenville Trustee Steve Krulick, the chairperson of the organization Wawarsing-Ellenville for Responsible Development (WERD) is often cited as one of the more vocal critics of Wal-Mart's heretofore potential arrival in the area. He also spoke in an interview on Tuesday about his thoughts regarding the retailer's appearance later this month.

"People should look at the proposal," he said, referring to the plans that Wal-Mart will be presenting at the meeting. He also discussed a $1,000 grant WERD received, as well as future funds the group expects to raise, to hire independent consultants, like attorneys or engineers, to help ensure that the development of the project goes along a responsible path, as they "don't want the town to give away the keys to the store."

"It's not going to be a public hearing," said Krulick, referring to this month's planning board meeting, which will not feature a public participation portion, "they don't want it to be a free-for-all." He said that he encourages members of the community to "spend the time to go through the proposal and see where the community has a viable argument" so that the community can maintain a clear voice through this process.

"This could take months or years," reminded Krulick.

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