After a series of lawsuits and neighbor protests that lasted almost a decade, ground was broken Tuesday for a new Walmart Supercenter on Transit Road in Lancaster.

Officials gathered for the ceremony at the site’s gravel-strewn lot behind an Evans Bank and an Applebee’s restaurant, stabbing at the dirt with shovels. The building is scheduled to open about a year from now.

“I’m thrilled this is coming. . . . It made me feel good,” said Town Supervisor Robert Giza.

Lancaster residents now have to drive six or seven miles to the Clarence Walmart, he said. The new store, near William Street, which will employ 300 people, will shorten the travel distance to a mile for many.

Giza also was heartened to hear a woman in the crowd say she was looking forward to the store and liked to shop there to buy gifts for her grandchildren.

“I don’t think it’s the position of the supervisor or Town Board to decide where people should shop or not,” Giza said. “The options are out there, and if you don’t want to shop there, don’t go.”

While he acknowledged that some neighbors who lived in townhouses behind the site had complained about the proposed 150,000-square-foot store, which will have 789 parking spaces, he felt their concerns had been allayed with adjustments, such as plans for a berm buffer with a fence and trees.

“We didn’t want to see it happen. We figured it would,” said Lawrence Helminiak, a Northwood Drive resident. “You’re going to have a lot more traffic. That’s what we’re worried about.”

He was a member of the defunct Citizens Against Retail Sprawl (CARS) group that organized about a decade ago to protest the store, filing lawsuits that slowed the approval process. A few years ago, CARS lost a case that argued the project plans didn’t thoroughly address the store’s impact, including traffic.

Years before that, the group won a case that found the town had failed to follow proper procedure when it began approving the Walmart project, said David Seeger, the lawyer who represented CARS.

“All the approvals were overturned, and the Bella Vista developer had to go back to square one,” he said of the local company, which eventually stopped working on the Walmart.

More recently, the Northwood Village Association of homeowners discussed the store with Walmart representatives, said Lynn McCarthy, president.

It will have an earth-tone color scheme, and trucks will be unloaded away from the neighborhood, to the north of the building.

“They’re trying to work with us with amenities so we’re good neighbors to one another,” she said. “We’ve ironed out some differences so it seems like every-thing’s going to be OK. . . . I think everyone just needs to get along and make the best of this.”

Walmart has heard that customers want the new store.

“We remain committed to growing our business in Lancaster and throughout Western New York,” said Steven Restivo, director of corporate affairs for the chain’s Northeast Region.