Neighbors cite traffic concern in petition against Concord Walmart

CONCORD, N.C. — Sharon Hagee cringes at the possibility of a Walmart Neighborhood Market coming to Concord.

Her home is right behind where the store would be built at Corban Avenue and Branchview Drive.

"It's going to be horrible," Hagee said.  "I mean, you're talking about big dumpsters back there behind it, open 24 hours."

The main concern for residents is traffic along Corban Avenue, which they say is already backed up on a regular basis.

Residents are especially worried that drivers will only be able to make a right turn coming out of the store, which will impact traffic in their neighborhood.

"So what they're going to do is cut down Crestside to get back over Branchview," Hagee said.

The developer said the traffic patterns are not set in stone. The company notified residents of the conditional rezoning request by registered mail in December and then held a community meeting to answer any questions. Residents said that meeting wasn't well attended.

"People are out of town during December," Hagee said.  "To me it was a little bit sneaky the way they handled it."

The city tells Channel Nine it has advised the developer to hold another community meeting that could ease some fears.

Residents plan to hold their own meeting Wednesday to come up with a plan to fight.

"The neighborhood is going to be prepared. We have been going from door to door with our petition. We don't want it rezoned," Hagee said.

Concord planning and zoning officials have not set a date to review the rezoning request. They said they're waiting for the developer to submit a completed application.

Wednesday's community meeting will be at 7 p.m. at the Central Carolinas Association office on Branchview Drive.

WSOC