Three Williamstown residents have filed suit in Superior Court to block construction of a 200,000-square-foot Super Wal-Mart and adjacent businesses planned for the Black Horse Pike near Malaga-New Brooklyn Road.

The suit claims "certain members of the board, including Mayor (Michael) Gabbianelli, were biased and predisposed to granting the developer the relief which it requested," and seeks to invalidate eight ordinances and nine resolutions that were approved to clear the path for the shopping center.

Phyliss Gibson of East Malaga Road, Michael Poponi of South Main Street and Joseph Rumpf of New Brooklyn Road want to overturn the approvals granted in January to developer Penn Real Estate Group of Bala Cynwyd, Pa.

The project would include a 200,000-square-foot Wal-Mart, eight separate retail structures that would be about 16,000-square-feet in total and a 4,000-square-foot bank.

The attorney representing the three Williamstown residents, Jeff Baron of the Voorhees firm Baron, Riefberg & Brennan, did not return calls for comment.

The suit also claims there were "multiple procedural errors," that violate the township's Municipal Land Use Law.

At least once, the suit states, the board considered testimony from the developer's professionals without giving the board or the members of the audience a chance for cross-examination. The suit also claims an off-the-record conversation between the board and the board's professionals was illegal.

"There were no procedural errors," planning board solicitor Leonard Schwartz said. "We were very careful to make sure everything would be done the way it needed to be done."

The lawsuit also suggests that the mayor should have recused himself from voting because he was "biased and predisposed" to approving the project.

"The mayor has been working on this for at least five years," Schwartz said.

"This development is going to trigger all kinds of development coming into town."

It is projected the new shopping center would create 400 or more jobs in the township.

Collectively, the suit claims that "the board's actions in this regard were arbitrary, capricious, unreasonable and contrary to law."

The nearest Wal-Mart is about five miles north on the Black Horse Pike.

Reach Meg Huelsman at (856) 251-3345 or mhuelsman@courierpostonline.com