SALEM Plaza developer asks to enlarge complex

The Wal-Mart lot is the only way to get to the proposed plaza.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
SALEM -- The recently constructed Wal-Mart on the city's east side won't open for about a month, yet already there are plans to enlarge the shopping complex.
The city planning commission will hear a request seeking an easement allowing traffic to use the Wal-Mart parking lot to reach a 16,000-square-foot strip plaza planned for just east of the Wal-Mart.
The planning commission session is set for 4:30 p.m. Monday at city hall.
The easement is required because motorists will not be able to directly access the plaza from a public highway, Patrick Morrissey, city planning and zoning officer, explained Friday.
Wal-Mart and the plaza are both located just off state Route 14, which also is East State Street.
The only way
Drives lead into Wal-Mart from the highway. But an embankment and drainage features lie between the plaza site and the road, making the Wal-Mart lot the only way to get to the plaza, Morrissey said.
The planning commission can grant the easement without the matter's having to go before city council, Morrissey said.
Howells & amp; Baird, a Salem-based engineering firm, applied for the easement. It is handling civil engineering tasks for the plaza's developers, WMK Continental Development.
No more details
Dave Vollnogle, project engineer for Howells & amp; Baird, said he's uncertain where WMK is based. Howells & amp; Baird was not directly contracted by WMK for the work, Vollnogle explained.
He said he could not disclose further details about the plaza, other than its square footage and the developer's desire to start construction sometime this spring.