Developer releases Walmart timeline

By: Sharon McBrayer | Morganton News Herald
Published: October 18, 2009

MORGANTON --

The developer of the old Henredon property says construction should start in spring or summer.
Scott Smith, president of WRS Realty, said that timeline depends on the weather. He said demolition of the Henredon plant will coincide with the start of construction. WRS plans to build a development that will include a Walmart Supercenter, other retail shops and residential units on the 141 acres along Hopewell Road and Fleming Drive.
In the meantime, Smith's company is finalizing its plans to submit to the North Carolina Department of Transportation.
Doug McNeal, a district engineer for DOT, said a request for a driveway permit for the development has yet to be submitted.
Typically, McNeal said, DOT doesn't get an application for a driveway permit until the developer is close to finalizing plans. A driveway permit grants permission for the development to tie into state-maintained roads, he said. One permit would be issued for the entire development.
Once all of the final plans for the development are complete, such as plans for water lines and other utilities, that's likely when DOT will receive an application for the permit, McNeal said. He said a driveway permit is one of the last permits for which a developer will apply.
As part of the application process, DOT would look at impacts to roads, projected traffic counts, whether there needs to be traffic signals and how it would function to make sure it would be optimum for the type of traffic the development would get.
The Morganton City Council approved the project in August when it agreed to rezone the property from heavy industrial to general business conditional use.
The developer hopes to have the super center and other shops complete in 2012.

Developer releases Walmart timeline

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