There's been an ongoing battle in Greenfield and West Springfield over whether or not a big-box discount club can offer inexpensive gasoline to its members. In Greenfield, the case in question is BJ's Wholesale, which saw its plan to build an eight-pump gas station at its Colrain Road site rejected by the town's Zoning Board of Appeals. BJ's filed suit, and it now appears that lawyers for BJ's and the town are close to settling out of court. In fact, the ZBA has scheduled a public meeting on August 1st to consider approving the settlement and give residents a chance to give their views. If the settlement is approved, it could result in the issuance of a special permit to BJ's to construct the gas station, which would offer gas at a reduced rate to club members (as the BJ's in Chicopee does).

But that won't happen if Al Norman has anything to say about it. The noted anti-sprawl activist, who successfully led the charge to keep Wal-Mart out of Greenfield in 1993, has been against the BJ's gas station plan from the beginning. And he finds the ZBA's sudden willingness to settle with the wholesale club suspicious. In a recent article in The Recorder, Norman was quoted as saying "it is beginning to appear that private deals are driving public policy."

The West Springfield case is a bit different. Nearly two years ago, the Planning Board there approved Costco Wholesalers' plan to build a 6-pump gas station at its Riverdale Street store. Since then, though, Costco and other retailers on Daggett Drive, the private road that runs through the Riverdale shops, have been caught up in litigation with the road's owners, F.L. Roberts and Co. and Colebrook-Riverdale Inc. The issue, according to the litigants, is road improvements. Costco was granted the special permit in 1999 only after the chain agreed to post two performance bonds totaling $150,000 for traffic studies and for the company's share of the design and construction costs of the eventual road improvements. At the time, the Planning Board vowed not to allow expansion or addition to the shopping center until the road improvements were made. So Costco's engineers drafted plans for widening, paving and painting stripes on Daggett Drive.

But the problem, it seems, is getting F.L. Roberts to approve the Daggett Drive improvement plan. And it doesn't appear that the company will do that anytime soon. The Planning Board agreed on July 18th to extend Costco's special permit for another six months, the fourth time the permit has been extended.

In the lawsuit filed by Costco and C'Jack Realty Group, who own the buildings that house Staples, Dick's Sporting Goods and Michael's, the defendants claim they have easement rights, which gives them all the approval they need to make improvements to the road. Because of their proximity to Costco, Home Depot, Pep Boys and Pearson-Daggett of Delaware are also named as defendants in the suit.

Costco maintains that F.L. Roberts broke a contract, which states the road must be kept in a condition acceptable as a public way. But they also imply that F.L. Roberts, the owner of numerous gas stations in the Pioneer Valley, is blocking Costco from the project for purely personal reasons. Quoted in The Hampshire Gazette, the complaint states, "The refusal of the Roberts defendants to allow construction of the property improvements at Daggett Drive is not in good faith but is based upon motives of commercial extortion which violate the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing." Sounds like the real issue here is competition, not road improvements.

There's no doubt that building a gas station at BJ's or Costco has both its upside and downside. On the pro side of the debate, the expansion would make lower gas prices available to club members. And in the Pioneer Valley, where wages are struggling to keep up with the cost of living and the cost of gas has soared to ridiculous heights, this is an attractive proposition. On the con side, however, allowing a national chain to undercut prices undermines the ability of local merchants to stay in business themselves.

How do you feel? Should BJs and Costco be allowed to offer their members cheap gas? Or is having these gas stations in our community just further evidence of urban sprawl, something we should fight to stop?

info2005@valleyviewpoint.com

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