Walmart Lays Out Plans for Abingdon Expansion

ABINGDON, MD — Walmart representatives unveiled plans for the new and improved Abingdon store Thursday night at a community meeting attended by approximately 30 residents.

The expansion is designed to update the Constant Friendship store, which opened in 1993, bringing it in line with other more modern Walmart locations.

Under the proposal, the Abingdon Walmart will include a full-service grocery store with a bakery and an outdoor pickup area for those who preorder their groceries online; a garden center; and a larger pharmacy with a health services area for consultations as well as a drive-through for picking up prescriptions.

An auto center is not in the plans, officials said.

The expanded business will be updated inside to incorporate more light, according to architect Chris Carlson, whose firm LK Architecture was contracted by Walmart to work on the project.

"The inside of the store will be a complete remake," Carlson said. "We're going to pull the ceiling out above the grocery," creating what he said would be a more spacious and "better feel."

A diagram of the proposed expansion shows the plan is to increase the size of the store from 137,449 to 187,627 square feet.

"We're going to reset the aisles, and we're going to add 10 spaces across the front," he said, for potential tenants like hair or nail salons, a money center or food vendors. "We don't have tenants lined up at this point, but it's a good possibility."

The store will remain open during the renovations, according to Carlson.

Officials presented their plans Thursday night at a community input meeting that is required as part of the development process in Harford County. At the meeting, residents can give input and ask questions.

Bill Wehland, who previously spoke out against the Walmart project proposed for MD 924 and Plumtree, said for the record that the company told Bel Air residents it would be impossible to expand in Abingdon; after years of protests from the Bel Air community regarding potential traffic and business impacts of building a super store on MD 924, Walmart announced last fall that it was no longer pursuing the site.

"You spent three years doing this at the county's expense, the citizens' expense, and all this expansion could have been discussed way back then," Wehland said. "Why didn't you think of this before?"

The meeting is a forum for community members to learn about and respond to developers' plans, so there was no answer given.

Wehland did get a response when he asked whether a traffic impact analysis would be required.

"Traffic will be looked at. Whether or not we have to do a formal analysis remains to be seen," attorney Joseph Snee said on behalf of Walmart. "This is just the beginning..."

About a dozen people provided comments at the meeting, held at Richlin Ballroom in Edgewood; all those who spoke mentioned traffic as a concern.

"If you have something happen back there like a terrorist event or a natural disaster, if you had to get everybody back in that area out quickly, it would be a nightmare," said Judy Robilotta of Abingdon, who lives approximately 1.5 miles from the Constant Friendship shopping area.

In addition to the Walmart, she noted that a movie theater and BJ's are on Constant Friendship Boulevard.

"You need to think of extending that road back so there would be two ways out of that area instead of one way," Robilotta said. "You need to think of an evacuation plan."

Photo Credit: Elizabeth Janney.