After years of talk and planning, work is expected to begin in the next couple weeks on a new Walmart on Route 1 in Fallston.

It’s unclear, however, what the status is of a housing development for the elderly also planned on the same tract.

A building permit has been issued for the new store, which will be built along a planned Fallston Boulevard.

“I anticipate Walmart will get under way in the next couple weeks; construction should start soon,” said Shane Grimm, chief of site plans and building permits review for the county Department of Planning Zoning, who confirmed the building permit has been issued.

Among the holdups in starting construction has been obtaining rights-of-way for the road improvements required as part of the project.

“They’ve needed rights-of-way along Belair Road [Route 1] and other locations. It’s taken time to get them acquired and the road improvements in place,” Grimm said.

The state has been able to obtain all but one of the necessary rights-of-way and is seeking help from the court to get it.

The State Roads Commission of the Maryland State Highway Administration is going through Harford County Circuit Court to obtain 2,899 square feet along Belair Road from 1909 Bel Air Road LLC for $79,850, the fair market value as determined by an appraiser.

The owner of Bel Air Road LLC, whose property is south of the Walmart site, and the SHA have not been able to come to an agreement on the price offered.

The developer was given a notice to proceed with the project, so the state is resorting to using its quick-take process to be able to move forward, David Buck, a spokesperson for SHA, said Tuesday. Quick take allows the state to take control of the needed property before a court rules on the compensation is due the owner.

“As with any development, there are traffic impacts the developer is required to do and pay for,” Buck said.

The state is working with the property owner to work out an agreement without involvement from the court.

The holdout property is along the stretch of Belair Road between Parsonage Lane and the soon-to-be-built Fallston Boulevard; the property is needed for a deceleration lane on the northbound side of Route 1 up to the new traffic signal at its intersection with Fallston Boulevard.

The new road will lead into a 147,465-square-foot Walmart, which has been planned with a possible 57,628-square-foot expansion.

Planned to the rear of the property is a 188-unit elderly housing development, the status of which is unclear.

“The market and economy are dictating when they’ll begin with that,” Grimm said. “I heard they may be moving forward in the near future.”

A representative from Greenebaum & Rose Associates, the developer of the site, was not available to comment on the project.

Other off-site improvements the developers must implement before construction begins include:

o Constructing a 100-foot right turn lane on Old Joppa Road at the intersection of Old Joppa and Route 1;

o Constructing a 425-foot second left-turn lane for southbound traffic and corresponding traffic signal adjustments at the intersection of Route 147 (Harford Road) and Route 1;

o Constructing a 500-foot left-turn lane for southbound traffic and 325-foot second left-turn lane for eastbound traffic and signal adjustments at the intersection of Route 1 and Route 152 (Mountain Road);

o Constructing 100-foot right-turn lanes for both north and southbound traffic with signal adjustments on Old Joppa Road at the intersection of Old Joppa and Route 152 and;

o Constructing a 200-foot right-turn lane for eastbound traffic on Route 152 and a 200-foot right-turn lane for northbound traffic with signal adjustments on Route 147 at the intersection of Route 147 and Route 152.

The work can be done concurrently with construction of the store and does not have to be finished before the project begins, according to Grimm.

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