By: Susan Parkou Weinstein
Published: Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Raynham Call
Raynham, MA

Raynham - A Superior Court judge has upheld a 2005 decision of the Raynham Planning Board, paving the way for Wal-Mart to build the town’s second Supercenter next to Market Basket plaza on Broadway.

In a March 10 ruling, Justice Robert C. Cosgrove dismissed a civil suit brought by Demoulas Supermarkets, Market Basket’s Tewksbury parent company, against the town of Raynham and Wal-Mart, saying the Planning Board decision was not arbitrary, capricious, unreasonable or illegal.

Selectmen said the company could appeal the decision within 90 days.

Barring an appeal, Wal-Mart could proceed with the project after meeting the conditions of the permit.

“Wal-Mart is currently reviewing our options at this time so as to serve our Raynham-area customers,” company spokesman Christopher N. Buchanan said Thursday.

Last November, Buchanan said Wal-Mart would move forward with its plans for Raynham if it won the case.

As of Friday, the company had not applied for any building permits.

In its complaint, Demoulas argued the Planning Board building permit was illegal because the board had failed to adequately address sewer extension issues and the traffic light planned near the Wal-Mart entrance would create traffic gridlock along the two-lane Route 138.

Demoulas’ attorneys also said the board did not consider the merits of a smaller store when members voted to approve the 208,000-square-foot project.

In his decision, Cosgrove noted Wal-Mart had agreed to $2.3 million in street improvements, including lights at Route 138 and Center Street, road widening and turn lanes, and signals at the Route 138 ramps at Interstate 495.

Wal-Mart’s promise to extend sewer lines from Taunton to the site were made possible when Raynham signed a new intermunicipal sewer agreement with Taunton.

Regarding store size, Cosgrove said there was no formula for determining the optimum size of a project.

If forced to build a smaller store, he said, “Wal-Mart could simply have walked away, taking with it any perceived economic benefits to the town.”

The decision comes more than a year after the completion of the non-jury trial.

A Wal-Mart expansion in Raynham Woods Commerce Center was blocked for three years by a lone Hill Street abutter

Bill Nickerson tried to convince the town and a trio of courts that Wal-Mart didn’t go far enough to improve traffic along Route 44. 

He ran out of legal options in 2002 after the state’s highest court ruled Nickerson had no right to sue because his property did not abut the Wal-Mart site.

The court ruled that Demoulas was an “aggrieved party” with legitimate concerns about traffic gridlock and impact on its business.  

Raynham Call reporter Susan Parkou Weinstein can be reached at sweinste@cnc.com.