OLD BRIDGE — Not everyone was happy to hear that Wal-Mart may soon be moving into the neighborhood.

Many residents turned out at the Oct. 28 township Planning Board meeting, some armed with multicolor signs stating "Stop Corporate Greed!" Others wore T-shirts readingWal Mart underneath a giant red X.

The retail giant is seeking to preliminary and final site plan approval to build a retail complex at Route 18 and Marlboro Road, where the Legends Golf Center operated.

The 53-acre Legends site became the focal point of a dispute when its owner, Greg Matzel, failed to get Zoning Board of Adjustment approval for 450 apartment units on the then R-120-zoned site in 2004. The township subsequently adopted the Crossroads Rede- velopment Plan, including the Legends site in with the otherwise township-owned tract of 500 acres. The redevelopment plan allowed for hotel/convention center and office uses on the Legends parcel.

Matzel, however, found the zone too confining and sued the township, resulting in a settlement in which the town agreed to amend the redevelopment plan to include office/hotel as well as highway-commercial district uses. The Township Council adopted the zoning changes in 2006, with officials acknowledging that the future retail uses proposed could involve a "big box" store such as a Wal-Mart.

The application now before the board is called The Golf Center Inc. Attorney William Wolf is representing the applicant, and the first expert he presented during last week's hearing was civil engineer Richard Moralle. The two of them discussed the physical aspects of the property itself. Moralle diagrammed the overall site from an aerial and straightforward view.

The complex would have frontage on Route 18, but would have access points both on that highway and on Marlboro Road.

"There will be five buildings located in the area," Moralle said. The main retail building would comprise 150,200 square feet. The other four buildings would include two restaurants, one of 7,300 square feet; the other 6,900 square feet. Another would be a twostory office building comprising 29,190 square feet. And the final structure would be a strip retail building of 18,400 square feet, Moralle said.

Board Chairman Lawrence Redmond asked if the big retail building would be the Wal-Mart, and Moralle and Wolf said that it was. Members of the audience made a small commotion when the acknowledgement was made.

Moralle and Wolf soon expressed that since the last hearing on Aug. 5, many issues that were brought up had been resolved to the best of their ability. Redmond, however, said there was one thing he would like to see — the addition of a sidewalk in front of the property.

"There are not enough sidewalks in Old Bridge, there simply are not," Redmon said. "I live in the area and I see kids all the time run across Route 18 to get to the Wawa. What makes you think they won't do that for Wal- Mart or for the two restaurants?"

Board member Dave Merwin expressed similar sentiment.

"I hate to say it, but Route 18 is a teenage death waiting to happen. We have a responsibility to protect the kids and that is why a sidewalk must be installed by the property," Merwin said.

By the time the issue of the sidewalk had been formally discussed, the time had run out for the hearing. The application was then pushed back to Jan. 6, when Wolf said he will have several more experts discuss the possibility of the complex moving into the area.

With the exception of Wal-Mart, the applicant did not disclose the names of any other potential tenants.

Last week's hearing was not opened to public comment due to time limitations. Members of the public may get a chance to speak at the next hearing in January.