Wal-Mart credited for diligent Route 65 landslide fix
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Stabilization of the former landslide site along Route 65 is ongoing.
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It is a little difficult for Bob Keir to admit how he feels about Wal-Mart Stores Inc. now.
For five years he and his allies in the now-disbanded Communities First! citizens group fought tooth-and-nail to stop a Walmart Supercenter planned for the former Dixmont State Hospital site on 75 acres above Route 65 in Kilbuck. They feared the impact it would have on traffic, the environment and local commercial districts.
Although they lost their court cases and development began, in the end Communities First! got what it hoped for because the massive dirt hill stacked on the hillside suffered a catastrophic landslide on Sept. 19, 2006.
A year later Wal-Mart declared the development dead and began the difficult process of stabilizing the site and turning it into a gently sloping meadow.
"It's funny how my attitude has changed about Wal-Mart, after fighting them for so long," said Mr. Keir, who lives in nearby Avalon. "But once they decided they were going to take over the property and fix it, they've really worked hard at it."
After a busy year that had motorists on Route 65 wondering what all the big earth-moving equipment was doing up on the hill -- spurring false rumors in the community that maybe they were working on a smaller development -- this week the company will mark the end of major reshaping of the site.
Although Wal-Mart initially hoped to have most work done in two years, today Wal-Mart's on-site contractor, Cleveland Construction, will host state officials for an informal ceremony to mark the beginning of the final landscaping phase. They will plant the first of 7,000 trees that will reforest, and hopefully stabilize, the property over the next year, state officials said.
Portions of the site continue to slide almost imperceptibly -- less than half an inch a week in critical spots -- and Wal-Mart has at least another year of work.
But Robert Bachus, principal engineer for Geosyntec, the firm overseeing the work, said, "A larger part of the site is very close to final stabilization."
Next spring Wal-Mart is expected to present its plan for long-term monitoring of the site, which will last years, if not decades, before anything is allowed to be built there -- if anything is ever allowed to be built there.
First Published November 16, 2010 12:00 am
