Wal-Mart Going Up Despite Concerns

By Steve Bennish Staff Writer

MIAMI TWP., Montgomery County — Heavy equipment is rolling for a new Wal-Mart Supercenter near the Dayton Mall and Interstate 675, a project delayed for a year by a residents’ challenge to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency that was under review by a state environmental board.

The residents, who hired a Cincinnati attorney to fight the project before the state’s Environmental Review Appeals Commission, simply ran out of money, said the attorney, Tim Mara.

The residents argued that because of flooding concerns, the Ohio EPA should not have awarded the retail giant a special permit to fill in .9 acres of wetlands and impact three unnamed tributaries to Holes Creek. The company also was awarded approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The $8 million Supercenter on Kingsridge Drive has been scaled down a bit, with the dropping of a tire and lube center, according to plans filed with Miami Twp.

Now, the building will enclose 176,351 square feet, rather than 184,000, when the project ends in March 2009. The Supercenter replaces a Wal-Mart leased on Springboro Pike.

Construction on the last undeveloped parcel near Dayton Mall, however, means a new ecological project will be launched.

To obtain the OEPA permit, Wal-Mart agreed to fund the re- establishment of an ice age fen in the Belmont neighborhood of Dayton for Five Rivers MetroParks.

A fen is a wetland that is fed by groundwater. A second project Wal-Mart agreed to undertake is the restoration of a stream in Oak Creek South Park in Washington Twp.

Dave Nolin, director of conservation for Five Rivers MetroParks, expects work on the fen to occur this spring. The unique wetlands created by glaciers were once common in Ohio. They are now all but gone. It will be the only fen in Montgomery County.

According to a lengthy agreement Wal-Mart signed with OEPA and the Corps, the company has six months to restore the fen after it disturbs the wetlands at the construction site. Nolin said a draft plan for the fen work is nearly complete and Wal-Mart and parks representatives will be signing off on it soon.

To bring back the fen, old drain tiles will be removed, invasive plants destroyed, native species planted, and a lot of earth moved.

Nolin said he’s looking for funds to complete a boardwalk at the fen, which Wal-Mart is not funding. Wal-Mart will also be required to monitor the fen for five years to ensure its success, Nolin said.

The fen isn’t open to the public now and there’s no firm opening date.

Wal-Mart did not respond to several requests for comment.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7407 or sbennish@DaytonDaily News.com.

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