Stop & Shop Challenges Approval Of Walmart Expansion In Groton

Stop & Shop Supermarket has filed an appeal in New London Superior Court seeking to overturn the decision of the Groton Planning Commission to grant Walmart permission to expand its store on Gold Star Highway.

The grocery store chain filed the appeal June 16 against the Groton Town Planning Commission and Wal-Mart Real Estate Business Trust, LP, according to court documents. The appeal says the commission overstepped its bounds when it approved the site plan allowing Walmart to expand the store by almost 40,000 square feet.

 “In approving the application, the defendant commission exceeded its statutory and regulatory authority and acted illegally, arbitrarily and in abuse of the discretion vested in it…,” the complaint says.

The commission approved the site plan application in May to expand the store on Gold Star Highway, which would increase retail space by about one-third. When finished, the store would be 159,674 square feet, including a grocery section.

Stop & Shop runs a supermarket in nearby Groton Square Shopping Center on Route 12, and is the closest business in the shopping center to Walmart.

The town has until August 25 to compile a record of the proceedings leading up to the approval, said Michael Murphy, director of Groton Town Planning and Development.

He said it is unusual for a commercial business to challenge the planning decision affecting another commercial operation.

A representative for Wal-Mart Real Estate Business Trust, LP could not be reached Tuesday.

An appeal doesn’t automatically stop a store from expanding, but typically a business, out of caution, will not start the work a permit allows until it knows the appeal is withdrawn or dismissed.

Stop & Shop’s complaint says Walmart does not have permission to use a common driveway between Walmart and the shopping center, which is often used a cut-through by shoppers traveling back and forth. The complaint says the expansion would increase traffic along the driveway, even though it is owned by a business entity called CW Groton Square LLC, which did not give Walmart permission to use the driveway.

Stop & Shop also contends that it has access rights over common areas of the shopping center, including the driveway.

In addition, the appeal says the site plan would allow Walmart to build more on the property than zoning laws allow.