If anything, the group that was created about a year ago, Wakefield Association to Keep Environments Under Protection or WAKE-UP!, seems to have become more emboldened and has taken a number of measures to prevent the developers from breaking ground.

Both Wakefield's zoning board of appeals and its conservation commission approved a special permit for the facility, which was required because the site is located in an industrially zoned area. The park contains historic buildings and a number of them will need to come down to make way for the store, a move that WAKE UP opposes. According to Tom Mullen, town counsel, the group has appealed the special permit in state court and to the state's Department of Environmental Protection. Both cases are pending.

The group has also gathered enough signatures to force the town's board of selectmen to call a special Town Meeting. WAKE UP! has put three articles on the town warrant one of which would require the selectmen to conduct a traffic study at Shaw's expense before making any roadway improvements to accommodate the store. The group also wants the selectmen to conduct an economic impact study at Shaw's expense and wants the town's board of health to conduct a hearing about any potential environmental damage that could result from the project.

Calls to WAKE UP! were not returned by deadline, but Mullen tells GlobeSt.com that he doesn't think the articles are "lawful as drafted." The appeals, he acknowledges, can be significant. Mullen adds that construction cannot begin until the cases are decided in court.