Third Walmart Store Planned for Snellville Area

Two Walmart locations just weren't enough.

Despite two stores on Highway 124 -- albeit several miles apart -- the super-sized retailer is planning one more store in the Snellville area. Documents submitted to the city of Snellville indicate the new site is at 2912 West Main Street.

There is also a Sams Club, Wal-Mart's member-only warehouse, on Scenic Highway.

Representatives for Wal-Mart Stores East, LP, are expected before the city council at its next regular meeting on August 8. The company will be requesting a re-zoning that allows a 40,600-square-foot Walmart Neighborhood Market store to settle in.

As of June 2011, there were no Walmart Market stores located in Georgia. The supercenter variety -- typically 185,000 square feet -- overwhelmingly represents Wal-Mart in the state, with 135 dotting the landscape (as of June 2011).

Walmart Markets are grocery stores, which typically offer food products, health and beauty aids, a pharmacy, bakery, pet supplies, household supplies and a one-hour photo lab, according to the company's website. There are already 183 around the nation.

At the August 8 city council meeting, representatives for the company are expected to ask for a re-zoning that removes all previously approved conditions from the 5.4 acre site. At one time, the site -- located between Westridge Drive, Highway 78 and Cambridge Street and abutting two housing subdivisions  -- had operated as a recreational vehicle sales and service dealership that vacated the property in 2009.

About 190 parking spaces are planned for the grocery store, as well as additional landscaping. The company is asking to reduce buffer requirements to the adjacent subdivisions, but it asserts that evergreen landscape will provide suitable screening.

Planning staff have recommended that the applicant's request be approved, and said it would align with economic development policies to revitalize the Main Street corridor.

"This project gives the city of Snellville the opportunity to redevelop an old run down property into a new aesthetically pleasing development," staff stated in a report. "The Walmart Neighborhood Market could act as catalyst for regeneration of an aging corridor."

Still, staff expects the retail store will bring additional increased traffic and higher demands on infrastructure can be expected. However, staff believes that the newly aligned McGee/Cambridge Road and West Main Street intersection complete with a traffic light should alleviate most of the traffic issues created by this development.

If citizens would like to speak at the upcoming city council meeting, they may do so. The project is expected to be up for its first-reading approval.