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The extension of Bluebonnet Boulevard from Burbank Drive to Nicholson Drive was completed in fall 2004. The project was originally designed to ease traffic congestion in the fast-growing southern part of the parish, but it has also opened up a great swath of land for development.

Several subdivisions have been built off the extension. And where houses go, retailers traditionally follow. Fast-food restaurants, banks and service businesses are going up at the Bluebonnet-Burbank intersection almost as fast as band fliers on a State Street telephone pole.

The big projects now are starting to come, and that’s causing some concern. Developer Mike Wampold is planning Longwood Village, a self-contained community between Nicholson and the Spring Lake subdivision. Longwood Village, which will be built out over 10 years, is projected to include 1,650 houses, apartments and townhomes, along with retail, office and community space (including schools and a church).

Pinnacle Entertainment plans to build its sprawling resort, pending regulatory approval, just down the road from Longwood Village. The casino has an option to buy 500-plus acres off Nicholson between Bluebonnet and Gardere Lane, where it would initially build a casino, hotel and golf course and follow with houses and stores.

But it’s the smallest—and first—project that’s generating concern: a Wal-Mart Supercenter planned for the Bluebonnet-Burbank intersection. A public meeting to discuss Wal-Mart drew hundreds of people from nearby subdivisions, including some who would like to stop the retailer from coming in when the project goes before the Planning Commission later this month.

Josh Bullock, who lives in Spring Lake, says he doesn’t understand why Wal-Mart needs to build 182,000-square-foot store on Burbank. “There are already so many Wal-Marts in town, and that’s pretty close to the one on Siegen Lane,” he says.

Bullock says he’s worried what a 24-hour Wal-Mart would bring: truck traffic day and night, increased crime and the possibility that the project could leave to the closure of the nearby Albertson’s, putting an empty big-box store just outside his neighborhood.

“If we’re going to have retail right in front of a subdivision, I wish it was something a little more upscale, like Perkins Rowe or Towne Center,” Bullock says.

Charles Landry, an attorney with Jones Walker who represents Wal-Mart locally, says the problem is that the neighboring subdivisions were built on land that was zoned for heavy commercial use. “It’s not like Wal-Mart is changing the land use,” he says. “It’s difficult to complain when people use property next to you the way it was intended.”

Bullock thinks that retailers should respect the surrounding communities and curb back on large-scale developments. “It shouldn’t matter what the zoning is,” he says. “There were already neighborhoods around these sites.”

Landry says people have forgotten the original purpose of Burbank Drive. The road was built as a heavy commercial corridor, designed to take traffic off Highland Road, which is a narrow street that winds past historic homes, large oak trees and neighborhood retail establishments. “Burbank is one of the best thoroughfares in the whole parish, with the capacity to handle additional traffic,” he says.

Burbank also is in the process of being upgraded. The road will be five-laned from Bluebonnet to West Lee Drive. Landry says the design for the widening is under way and the project should be completed by summer 2008, around the time the Wal-Mart Supercenter would open.

Landry says it’s “always the case” that the developer wanting to go in first for a project catches a lot of the flack for bigger items that are coming down the line. But he says Bluebonnet can handle the Pinnacle and Wampold projects.

“Bluebonnet was designed as a major thoroughfare. That’s precisely why our community spent millions to extend Bluebonnet,” he says. “I would say this is an example of good planning.”

But Metro Councilman Pat Culbertson, who represents the affected area, says he’s concerned about what’s coming to the area. “These two neighborhoods, Spring Lake and Fairhill, they’re right between Burbank and Nicholson,” he says. “There’s a possibility they could have Pinnacle at one end and a Super Wal-Mart at the other.”

Culbertson has organized public meetings to discuss the Wal-Mart and Pinnacle projects, both of which drew more than 300 people. “I understand the concerns I’ve heard about traffic because they’re mine as well,” he says.

Because so much of Longwood Village is residential and light commercial, Culbertson says he doesn’t think it will add much traffic to Bluebonnet. “That’s very acceptable, but I think the other things you are seeing are coming on the heels of that,” he says.

Bullock says he worries what’s going to happen to his quiet neighborhood once the large developments take off. He and his wife already are looking at selling their home.

“I’m all for future growth,” he says. “But I’m concerned about the crime potential and property values going down.”