The new Hooksett Lowe’s on Route 3A is up and running yet the next-door Wal-Mart, in the works since 2005, is still getting its design blueprints straightened out.

Ron Savoie, a member of the Hooksett Zoning Board of Adjustment, wants to see the job done.

“This is ridiculous,” Savoie said during a recent Zoning Board meeting. “This has been going on for three years.”

In an effort to move the project along more quickly, the Planning Board granted a parking variance to the developer Oct. 14, and will allow an exception to the minimum number of parking spaces required for the building.

According to the retailer’s 162,000-square-foot site plan, town ordinances normally would require a minimum of 814 parking spaces. The Planning Board granted a variance for 777 spaces, 37 fewer than the required amount.

The developer requested a variance because Wal-Mart recently unveiled plans to include an on-site wastewater treatment facility to treat in-store effluent. The 50-foo by 68-foot facility, planned for a corner of the lot, will replace 44 parking spaces that were originally slated for the space.

Amy Manzelli, an attorney with Concord-based Sulloway and Hollis, represented the retailer at the meeting and explained to Zoning Board members that the wastewater treatment facility is Wal-Mart’s attempt to go “green.”

“Wal-Mart wants to protect the groundwater resources as much as it can,” Manzelli said. By keeping the store small and limiting the number of parking spaces, civil engineer Steve DeCoursey, also representing the developer at the meeting, said the community will be best served.

“We don’t think we need (the extra parking spaces and they) would increase the amount of blacktop out there,” DeCoursey said.

The new Hooksett Wal- Mart originally included plans for more than 1,000 parking spaces until the retailer revised its plans and reduced the footprint of the store by more than 60,000 square feet. The site now includes more green space and less impervious surface.

The store is slated to open next summer and will include lawn and garden, grocery and general merchandise departments.