DeWitt zoning change fuels talk of possible Costco, wholesale club

DeWitt has rewritten its zoning code to specifically address wholesale clubs, a move that could reshape shopping, traffic and future retail development even though no Costco application has been filed with the Town of DeWitt Planning and Zoning Department.

Town Supervisor Max Ruckdeschel said the update was meant to make DeWitt more attractive to a retailer like Costco, which he described as a heavy contender. The key change matters because the town previously did not allow a wholesale club with a gas station, even though fuel is one of the biggest draws for membership warehouses such as Costco and BJ’s. The town board’s April 13 agenda included a resolution to schedule a public hearing for a proposed wholesale retail club local law, and DeWitt’s public hearings page later listed a May 11 notice for the same measure. A March 26 Planning Board packet also included a document titled Wholesale Retail Club Use and Accessory Gas Pumps.

The timing puts the issue squarely in front of residents who already deal with heavy retail traffic around the eastern edge of the county. DeWitt says its board meets at 6 p.m. on the second and fourth Monday of each month and opens each meeting with public comment, giving nearby homeowners, commuters and business owners a chance to weigh in as the proposal moves through the local law process. The town’s budget is just over $18 million, with another $24 million in spending and contracts handled through special districts, and officials say the average annual tax increase over the past 12 years has been less than 1.5 percent.

Traffic concerns are not abstract. WSYR reported in August 2025 that DeWitt police recorded nearly 100 collisions in the BJ’s area from 2024 to 2025, including 42 in 2024 and 42 so far in 2025 within or immediately adjacent to BJ’s Wholesale Club. Eight of those crashes were in the gas area. East Syracuse Planning Board chairman Ron Gustafson said BJ’s renovation plans were intended to keep traffic internal to the property and make public-road backups “very, very unlikely.”

For shoppers, the question is whether DeWitt is laying the groundwork for another wholesale option on a corridor already shaped by big-box retail. If Costco ever did land there, it would be the second Costco in Onondaga County, joining the store at Township Five in Camillus, which opened Oct. 24, 2014. The county also has a recent memory of losing another warehouse option when Sam’s Club on Erie Boulevard East announced its closure on Jan. 11, 2018 and shut down to the public on Jan. 26, 2018, affecting 151 employees. Costco has said it aims to open 30 or more warehouses a year over the next five to 10 years, and DeWitt’s zoning move suggests local officials are preparing for the possibility that the next one could be discussed here.