The Chelsea Standard
A Heritage Newspaper
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Backs against the Walgreens
Community feedback indicates uphill battle for drugstore
By Sean Dalton, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: June 26, 2008
Residents were not at all enamored with the idea of a proposed 24-hour Walgreens drugstore being erected on the corner of Old US-12 and South Main Street.
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More than 80 people attended the June 17 Chelsea City Planning Commission meeting and all but a couple of them expressed everything from mild concern to outright condemnation of the project.
The proposed drugstore is flanked by a CVS located to the east and faces Chelsea Pharmacy to the south in the Chelsea Shopping Center.
Pharmacies at Polly's Country Market and Chelsea Community Hospital, while not quite as close to the proposed site, are both less than a mile away.
The Planning Commission decided to table a preliminary site plan for the proposed drugstore where The Wolverine restaurant and Chelsea Standard/Dexter Leader offices currently sit.
The decision was unanimous, although commissioners Joel Abramson and Jack Garland were absent.
The commission was also expected to vote on a Special Land Use permit for the drive-through window that will be integral to the 24-hour drugstore's operations.
The commission held a public hearing prior to the vote. The room was packed, with latecomers having to sit against the walls, tables or the floor.
"It's not only a pharmacy," warned Ann Comeau, of 5480 Conway Road. "It sells everything. Consider the impact it will have on our downtown."
George Winans of 164 Park St. was more straightforward, asking outright what could be done to "stop the pharmacy from coming in."
Commission chairman Chris Rode and his colleagues were initially at a loss as to what to tell the crowd.
He explained that the commission isn't necessarily approving a drugstore specifically, but explained it as approving a building defined as falling within a specific range of uses outlined by the land's zoning, which legally encompasses what developer Hannawa Chelsea Holdings LLC set out in its site plan for the 14,478-square-foot building.
Although the developer has not talked about it, the Walgreens Web site mentions that the company intends to have 7,000 stores open by 2010.
"The bottom line is that the Planning Commission doesn't consider how many of any particular use there is," Rode said. "If someone asks to be approved for a permitted use, we have to consider it."
There is no "quota system" he continued, reiterating the commission's neutrality and clarifying that the types of developments in a particular area are "driven by market forces."
Colleen Bean, 1327 Armstrong, spoke specifically to the Special Land Use permit that the developer would need to build the store with a drive-through window and accompanying space for vehicle queues.
"Most elderly shun the use of drive-through windows," she said, pointing out the increasing senior population in the area.
"They take it in and wait - most people want to go inside."
The crowd continued to ask if the commission could "do anything" about the new Walgreens. They also asked if there was any other body they should go to, such as the City Council.
"I can't begin to tell you what council might do," Rode said.
Commissioner Peter Feeney was the first to toss the residents a scrap of hope.
"There might be aspects that don't conform (to existing ordinances) and that needs to be looked into," said Feeney said. "I wouldn't say it's entirely hopeless. There's a process."
Rode pointed out that a traffic impact study would be done at some point, in response to questions about how the store would affect traffic and whether road improvements would be needed.
Scott McElrath, 104 S. Main, said that when compared to a copy of the Gateway Overlay District guidelines that are on file, the proposed Walgreens has "nothing that goes along with (it)."
The developers and the commission have yet to discuss conforming to those guidelines, which were established when CVS came to town.
"The major issue is that commercial businesses north of Old US-12 have to have parking behind the front of the building line and the layout that was presented does not show that," said Planning and Zoning Administrator Jim Drolett.
"It has two rows of parking between the building and the street between both 12 and Main Street."
The developer was scheduled to go to the Zoning Board of Appeals the following evening, but tabled that pending cooperation with the commission.
According to Drolett, there is also a "subjective aesthetic issue" that is up to the commission, with regard to how the building fits into the gateway district under those criteria.
Other residents continued the volley of questions about how to avoid a "Wal-Mart situation," referring to the impact on the local businesses and community.
Rode and other commissioners recommended that residents get involved in the Master Plan process, in addition to contacting the Downtown Development Authority and Chelsea Area Chamber of Commerce.
"It's a complicated issue," Rode said. "How do you promote development that is locally owned? I don't want you to think that there's something the city can do that it just isn't doing."
Other commissioners started recommending that "if (Walgreens) doesn't think they can make a buck, they won't come here," although stopping short of outright advising residents to form a community group or organize a letter-writing campaign to show a concerted effort to avoid a Walgreens, should it come to fruition.
Not everyone was against it.
Bill Lawrence, 23116 Pine Drive was adamant about Walgreens bringing competition to the area, which would subsequently reduce prescription costs.
"I'm 71 years old and had a Walgreens before moving here from Florida," Lawrence said. "I can assure you when you have only one pharmacy you pay higher prices.
"If you look at any major city, where's there's a Walgreens there's a CVS."
Before the meeting closed, Hannawa representatives promised to take into consideration the feedback they received at the meeting before coming back with another plan.
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