Massachusetts’ new greenhouse gas policy may affect proposed commercial development in Hadley. New projects must comply if they “generate 3,000 or more new vehicle trips per day for office projects; 6,000 or more trips per day for mixed use projects that are 25% office space; or 10,000 trips per day for other projects.”
The environmental impact reports filed for the three proposed big box stores in Hadley show that the Wal-Mart Supercenter will generate 9,434 trips per day at peak; the Home Depot project will generate 12,858 trips at peak; and the Lowe’s project will generate 8,676 trips during peak (Saturday middays). This represents a total increase of 30,968 new trips on Saturdays — more than double the existing 28,000 trips. Developers’ environmental reports show the cumulative air pollution increase for ozone ingredients will be 23.2% for nitrogen oxide and 25.6% for volatile organic compounds.
State regulators, acknowledging the cumulative impacts of permitting these three large projects, are requiring the developers to address the traffic impacts together and work out an agreement in which whatever project is built first must built the majority of traffic “mitigation” improvements (i.e., wider traffic lanes, new signals, etc.) for all three developments.
The new policy requires developers to show increases in six pollutants cited by the Kyoto Protocol: carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N20), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulphur hexafluoride (SF6). The policy will be available for public comment July 1.
