Work began a few weeks ago on 170 acres off Exit 10 of the F. E. Everett Turnpike following an eight-year battle to bring a major retail center to southern Merrimack. For some residents, it probably seemed even longer; for others, not long enough.

Local developer Tom Monahan first submitted proposals for development in 2002 and 2003 before bringing the Chelsea Property Group of Roseland, N.J., to the Merrimack Planning Board in September 2004.

Any retail plan at that location would have required a rezoning of the property, and the town had rejected that change on both previous occasions. By 2004, developers expected the zoning change to finally be approved and the outlet stores to open sometime in 2007.

Instead, what followed that hearing were more hearings, several petitions, the rejection of one petition, a townwide vote approving the zoning change, a reversal of the petition rejection, a lawsuit challenging the reconsidered petition, the re-rejection of the petition, more hearings, deadline extensions, site plan reviews and finally, in September 2008, approvals to build the Merrimack Premium Outlets.

Even more controversy followed the final approval, as several abutters – already aggrieved by the plans – feuded with Chelsea over the developer’s mishandling of a property line dispute.

Now owned by mall developer Simon Property Group, Premium Outlets plans to open 120 retail stores on the site covering 550,000 square feet of floor space. The first phase, which is scheduled to open in 2012 and occupy 430,000 square feet, is expected to include up to four restaurants, a food court and a 200-room hotel.

The group is planning an official groundbreaking in September, followed by the commencement of heavy construction.

Commenting on the preliminary site work last month, Michele Rothstein, the senior vice president of marketing for the developer, expressed optimism despite the years of delays.

“The message is, this is a real project,” she said. “We’re coming to Merrimack, and we’re excited, as we have been for some time.”

Projections for the $100 million project call for 1,000 new jobs to be created, 5 million shoppers to visit every year and around $1 million in annual real estate taxes to be paid.

The project already has had something of a stimulus effect on the local economy. Monahan’s development company received a $17 million payment from Chelsea for the property, and the mall developer will owe Merrimack a $950,000 check for land uses taxes.

Town Manager Keith Hickey reports that half that money will go to the Conservation Commission and the other half directly to the town.

In this economy, every bit helps. Merrimack has a town budget approaching $30 million, and residents have not been shy about wanting to hold their property tax bills in check.

In 2006, an anti-tax group petitioned for a warrant article that returned $2.5 million in the library building fund for tax relief. That one-time benefit saved the average homeowner about $200 that year.

Last year, the town proposed eliminating $131,000 in funding for the Merrimack Youth Association, which organizes youth sports leagues for more than 4,000 kids.

And just this year, the town studied the possibility of shutting off 240 streetlights to save $23,000 in electric bills.

To repeat: The outlet mall is optimistically expected to bring 1,000 jobs to the area and $1 million in annual taxes for the town of Merrimack. In a state that has struggled to fund local education and just managed to close a projected $295 million budget deficit, that is not a point to be dismissed lightly.

Town residents have every right to fight for their right to maintain their quality of life on one hand and for keeping their tax bills affordable on the other.

In this case, one priority had to win out. It is an unfortunate fact of life that many of the abutters to the new outlet center may never accept their new neighbor.

But the fact that construction is finally getting started is a good one for Merrimack and shoppers across the region.