Littleton Divided over Shopping Center Plan

Drive through Littleton these days, and you can't miss the signs.

All along Main Street, the red and white placards urge people to vote yes for the Konover project.

Within the last few days, project opponents have started distributing signs too.

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Here at the Littleton Diner, there's no shortage of opinions.

Edwina Patten is a retired seamstress.

She's amazed anyone could oppose the plan.

We need the growth. it'll bring more money into littleton and cut the taxes on people that live here.

A few booths away, Eddy Moore agrees.

Moore chairs the Zoning Board of Adjustment and is on several town committees.

He says Littleton should grab this project before nearby St. Johnsbury, Vermont steals it away.

007 35 I think it's a great oppty for konover to come here bc they do have the option to go to vermont bc vermont is open to biz and st j's in particualr, so I think we shd protect our position of being number one in the area and I think its v imp to our future

The project would involve two or possibly three so-called big box stores off exit 43 on the west end of town.

Likely tenants include a Lowe's home improvement store and a supermarket.

The total size could be as big as 375,000 square feet, or the equivalent of 6 and a half football fields.

Everett Chambers used to own the Littleton diner.

He says the Konover project is just too big to rush into.

001 106 I think we're making a terrible mistake jumping thru hoops because some developer comes up from ct when we don't have any plan, we don't have any analysis to support that plan.

Opponents worry the development could change the town's character.

Chris Williford bought this diner last summer.

He concedes a Walmart that opened a few years ago doesn't seem to have hurt Littleton's bustling main street.

But he thinks this project might.

main st. is unique bc the stuff you buy on main st. can't be bought at walmart. but if you put in enough of these stories maybe people won't bother coming downtown. and this is nice, we've worked really hard to make main st what it is.

Both sides cite numbers to back up their arguments.

Supporters say the development would generate more than 600-thousand dollars in property taxes and nearly 900 jobs.

Opponents point to studies in other towns that found big box stores actually cost money because of increased police and road costs and decreased spending in local stores.

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Opponents of the project are sometimes accused of having a Not In My Back Yard attitude.

But for Kim Richey, it's more of a Not In My Front Yard situation.

Richey and his wife Kimberley run an auto body shop on the west end of Main St.

Their dream house is a short distance away down a country road.

10 220 this is an aerial view, and this is our property, and this is the proposed site .

The Richeys looked for farmland for years before they finally settled on a large wooded property nearby.

They knew the lot next door was zoned industrial.

Richey says they figured any development would happen right along the highway, leaving a buffer zone of trees around the back and sides.

13 134 we placed our barn knowing it was industrial and naively believing it would always be industrial, and believing no one wd develop this far back.

Instead the Konover project would extend to the rear of the lot, possibly to within 50 feet of the Richeys? land.

Richey worries runoff from the development's parking lot would affect his water, though the company has assured him it won?t.

And he's concerned residents won't have any control over the shopping center's size and appearance.

He says, at the very least, the town should adopt a system of regulations before allowing a big developer in.

15 24 if this gets voted in, the town has no say. there's no site plan review, to my knowledge there's no nothing. // we can't say we don't like how that buildings going to look .

Richey also says, given Littleton's unemployment rate of just over 3-percent, he's not convinced the town needs more low-skilled retail jobs.

He thinks the wooded land, with its view of rolling hills, might better be used for housing.

But those arguments get little sympathy from project backer Frank Porfido.

Porfido owns a market and deli downtown.

there's always been a small element in town opposed to any change or growth, and they're speaking up again, along with the not in my backyard people.

Porfido says Walmart has been good for his business.

He expects a new development to help him even more.

And he says the town has never had any trouble working with chain stores.

staples walmart shaws vip applebees. 32 00 these big developers, they come in and they don't want to get off on the wrong foot. // they usually do anything you ask em too, we've found, in the history books.

While both sides say the town appears closely divided, the development faces a significant hurdle.

Kim Richey and other abutters have signed a protest petition to oppose the zoning change that would make a commercial development possible.

That means the project will have to get a two-thirds vote, instead of the normal majority.

Even backers of the plan say that sets a high bar.

Voters in Littleton go to the polls on Tuesday.

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