Aliyya Swaby Photo
Furlow: Glad to see project advance.
CVS got over one of the first hurdles to setting up a new store on the corner of Whalley Avenue and Dayton Street, with City Hall finally on board for the ride.
After almost a year of debate among developers, neighbors and City Hall, the planned new store — a block away from an existing store to be closed in Upper Westville — received positive reviews from all three sides Tuesday night at a Board of Zoning Appeals public hearing at 200 Orange St.
Developers from Arista Development LLC are seeking a special exception to allow 70 on-site parking spaces where 133 are required for a retail store and to allow transition parking in a residential district.
The city administration had pushed the developer to redesign the store to bring the building closer to the street and overall fit in more with an urban landscape rather than mimic a suburban strip-mall outlet.
Zoning commissioners closed the public hearing and did not vote on the matter Tuesday. The project will go to City Plan this month before returning to the BZA for the vote next month.
Markeshia Ricks File Photo
These buildings are set to come down.
The 13,294 square-foot pharmacy with a drive-through window would encompass 1.6 acres at 39, 43, and 47 Dayton St. as well as 1122, 1130, 1136,1144, 1146 and 1150 Whalley Ave. Several existing buildings would come down, including a corner liquor store.
John Knuff, attorney for the project, said developers changed the plan to incorporate comments from the city’s traffic department and zoning staff and the new comprehensive plan for development. They relocated the building to the corner to create a “street edge with Dayton and Whalley,” he said. The move consolidated a proposed three curb cuts — two on Whalley and one on Dayton — into two, one on each street.
The move would allow cars on Whalley better “sight lines,” he said, and buffer residential neighbors from noisy Whalley Avenue.
BZA Commissioner Pat King asked whether the cars exiting from the curb cut on Dayton would affect traffic on the street.
Charlie Baker, the project’s traffic engineer, said during peak hours, cars driving out of Whalley and Dayton curb cuts would have to join a queue of vehicles, until the light change. He said the CVS would not increase the amount of queuing.
Fine Print Kerfuffle
Knuff: We heard you
Developers also significantly reduced the number of parking spaces from the required 133 to 70 — a change that sparked a debate between Knuff and zoning staff Tuesday.
Brian Dundon, civil engineer on the project, showed a rendering of the plan indicating that 63 of the 70 proposed parking spaces would be constructed, and seven would be held “in reserve.” That way, builders could avoid paving more spaces, as zoning staff encouraged previously.
“There didn’t seem to be a reason to pave more than is necessary,” Knuff said.
Though Deputy Director of Zoning Tom Talbot is a fan of fewer parking spaces, he said commissioners could not vote to allow developers fewer parking spaces than asked for in their original application. “If they want fewer, they need to start all over. They have to show 70 parking spaces on a plan for this to go forward,” he said, not 63 spaces and seven potential spaces.
He said developers can agree to submit another site plan with 70 parking spaces, so the project could get moving through the City Plan Commission. Then they can return later to ask to reduce that parking to 63.
Beaver Hills/ Westville/ Beverly Hills Alder Richard Furlow, who has been a proponent of the CVS project from the start, said he is pleased it is finally going forward, as a way to reduce blight in that part of the neighborhood.
City’s Nemerson pushed for a more urban look
Matthew Nemerson, the city’s economic development director, had opposed the original design at an earlier public meeting in Westville, when he argued with the project’s main developer Scott Weymouth on the aesthetic design of the building.
Nemerson said Tuesday night that he “gave folks a hard time not because we’re unfriendly to developers, but because this is an important urban corner.” He said he appreciates that this CVS now will not look like it was taken out of the suburbs.
Zoning commissioners voted unanimously to close the public hearing and requested a new site plan with 70 parking spaces.