All eyes scanned the packed VFW Hall, where even standing room was hardly an option, looking to see how many people supported the idea.
Not a single hand was raised. Days after word spread throughout Rocky Point of a developer's plan to open a Wal-Mart at the former drive-in movie theater property on Route 25A in an effort to settle litigation with the Town of Brookhaven regarding zoning of the site, residents made it perfectly clear how they felt.
"[The land use committee] thinks bringing a Wal-Mart to Rocky Point is a bad idea and we're asking [civic members] to consider voting against it," said land use committee chairman Richard Johannesen. "Wal-Mart will ruin the character of our town. The traffic congestion would be overwhelming to our road infrastructure. Wal-Mart is also a bad corporate model, and it would destroy our downtown area."
Nobody in the room expressed disagreement.
Councilwoman Jane Bonner was quiet on the issue, leaving most of the talking to Mr. Johannesen and Mr. Martin, but when she did speak briefly on the topic, she spoke loud and clear.
"Building a Wal-Mart would be like dropping a napalm bomb on Rocky Point," Ms. Bonner said.
The zoning of the parcel has been an issue before the courts for more than five years after a previous Town Board, on its own motion, changed the zoning of the property from a regular business category to commercial recreation. The zone change conflicted with a developer's plan to construct a Lowe's Home Improvement Center on the site. That proposal has been fought by the civic every step of the way.
Mr. Johannesen said he was not entirely convinced the property owner wants to build a Wal-Mart on the site.
"I think they're trying to say, 'You don't want Lowe's, well it can get worse," Mr. Johannesen, a local attorney, said.
Eric Alexander, executive director of Vision Long Island, the company overseeing the visioning process on the downtown revitalization effort in Rocky Point, called Wal-Mart "the most sophisticated retailer in terms of bottom-feeding."
"My organization will put all our resources against Wal-Mart coming here," he said.
Community members who spoke at the meeting suggested doing likewise.
Former Rocky Point civic president Diane Burke, who left the meeting while the Wal-Mart discussion was going because she is a member of Brookhaven's zoning board, said Thursday's meeting was the most highly attended gathering of the civic in two years.
"Something we should do as local residents is boycott Wal-Mart," one woman said. "Shop at your local stores."
The civic is hoping to conduct information sessions in the near future on what Wal-Mart would mean to the community.
"I think it's pretty apparent that the traffic and economic impacts would be dire," Mr. Martin said Thursday.
The civic next meets April 3.