GREENFIELD — A handful of residents joined state officials and people associated with the proposed development of Aldi, the discount supermarket chain based in Germany, for an information session on Thursday morning as part of a review process to consider the project’s potential environmental impact.

Speaking on behalf of Aldi grocery stores, Andy Platt of Bohler Engineering explained the plan to construct a 19,400-square-foot grocery store on the site of the now-demolished Candlelight Motor Inn at 208 Mohawk Trail. The 6.7-acre property, located west of Interstate 91 behind McDonald’s, has been owned by Benderson Development for 17 or 18 years, and will be leased by Aldi for the store and 97 parking spaces.

In addition to the access point off the Mohawk Trail (Route 2), the site has frontage on Robbins Road. Platt said construction will largely occur on the northern part of the property.

According to Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act analyst Nicholas Perry who shared information on MEPA’s environmental review process on Thursday, the Expanded Environmental Notification Form (EENF) was triggered as a result of certain thresholds the project met, including the generation of 2,000 or more new average daily trips on roadways providing access to a single location, and alteration of more than half the acreage of wetlands. The EENF indicates the project will require a vehicular access permit from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation.

“The MEPA is not a permitting process and does not approve or deny projects,” he clarified. “MEPA review occurs prior to state agency actions to ensure agencies evaluate their environmental impact.”

At the end of the process, Perry said Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Rebecca Tepper will issue a certification to identify whether the project complies with MEPA or if more analysis is needed.

The property is located between Wheeler Brook to the north on the other side of Route 2 and Smead Brook, which runs through the site. Both, Platt said previously, have 200 feet of riverfront area. There is also bordering vegetative wetlands on the western end, in addition to an off-site bordering vegetative wetland south of the site.

Platt noted that the Greenfield Conservation Commission approved the Aldi development project with conditions. As for traffic, Platt said the new store would account for an estimated 2,160 trips on the busiest day of the week.

“The traffic study found that impacts on area roadways would be minimal and that no mitigation is needed beyond the improvements to Route 2 that the state is already proposing in that area, with the construction of those improvements starting in the fall of this year.”

He said developers also have committed to a transportation management program, which would include encouraging carpooling and bicycling to work, as well as staggering shifts.

Aldi, which started in Germany in 1961 and opened its first U.S. store in 1976, is known for keeping prices low by eliminating non-essential features. The stores mainly sell products similar to big-name brands and customers bag their own groceries. Shoppers also insert a 25-cent deposit to use a grocery cart. They take their quarter back when they return the cart. The chain’s website states this deposit reduces the need to hire extra staff to collect carts.

Other than Planning Board Chairman Charles Roberts, who questioned the rationale for access on Route 2, only two residents had questions or comments regarding the project. Al Norman, who introduced himself as a sprawlbuster and has previously expressed concern for the project at Conservation Commission meetings, argued there were “less impactful alternatives” to the proposed square footage of the project. He also asked whether the traffic study had been peer-reviewed, and if future uses of currently empty storefronts at the Big Y plaza were considered as part of the traffic study.

At the Big Y plaza “to your north, there’s about 16-, 17,000 square feet empty,” Norman said. “If those uses are filled, I’m concerned this is going to be one of the worst traffic spots in town.”

Resident Ryan Whitney, however, spoke to encourage the project, arguing that it was a much-needed resource for many in the community.

“We’re not all sprawlbusters here in Massachusetts,” he said. “Al has been fighting a lot of stuff coming into town and I’d like to show my appreciation that Aldi’s is coming here. … Please don’t give up your fight to have cheaper shopping for the poor community in this town.”

Perry said comments on the project will continue to be accepted through July 24 and can be sent either by email (nicholas.perry@mass.gov) or through the public comment portal online at eeaonline.eea.state.ma.us/EEA/PublicComment/Landing.

A certificate on the Expanded Environmental Notification Form is anticipated to be issued on July 31.

Reporter Mary Byrne can be reached at mbyrne@recorder.com or 413-930-4429. Twitter: @MaryEByrne.

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