Hearing Set for Walgreens’ Proposal
Blueprints show a colonial style 10,000 square foot pharmacy with decorative railing at the roof, pillars in the front, architectural grade shingles, and windows facing north towards Town Hall and east toward Main Street.
Walgreens’ main entrance on Main Street will be located on the building’s northeast corner, closest to the Route 154 and Route 80 intersection, with a sidewalk located next to colonial columns.
Plans show signage above the main entrance and on the Main Street side of the building.
First Selectman Dick Smith said its fa�§ade would be similar to the Deep River Shopping Center across the street.
The back of the building will be slightly higher than the front to accommodate a mezzanine floor used for offices and a stockroom.
A drive-through pharmacy with canopy is proposed for the rear of the building and seven parking spaces, with two handicap spaces, will be near the main entrance.
A separate exit onto Main Street will be built on the south side of the building, primarily for drive-through customers, Smith said.
Delivery trucks will utilize the area behind the store near the drive-through window, Smith said.
Next door at 184 Main Street, the former 11,000-square-foot LaPlace Furniture store will be demolished to make room for a proposed 43-space parking lot, two marked as handicap spaces.
Forty-one parking spaces are required, the developer claims on the application, but the project will provide 50 onsite-parking spaces as well as six proposed parallel parking spaces in front of Walgreens and the parking lot.
It is planned that curbs will be moved inward to allow for a safer parking situation, Smith said.
Jonathan Kastner, planning and zoning chairman, said Turnpike Properties, developer and owner of the Deep River Shopping Center, has promised to provide a lifetime easement on ten of its 100 parking spaces for town hall employees.
The easement was requested, Smith said, since Walgreens will use the shared parking lot, located on town property.
Islands with plans and 12-foot tall antique style lighting is proposed for the lot which will have a similar appearance as the Deep River Shopping Center but Smith said lighting wattage could be different.
Similar antique style lighting is planned for Main Street as part of a STEEP grant received by the town.
The antique lighting is proposed only for areas near Main Street and town hall while twenty-foot box lighting is proposed for the drive through area and in the middle of the parking lot.
Behind the pharmacy and parking lot is the Underhill property, Smith said, adding that Walgreens withdrew plans for parking behind the drive-through so that a larger buffer can be created.
The minimum buffer behind the store will be 12 feet 2 inches widening to a maximum of 31 feet 7 inches near Route 80.
Kastner said the commission requires a 10-foot buffer between residential and commercial properties.
Smith said drivers would be able to enter and exit the parking lot on Routes 80 and 154 but it would be configured to discourage them from using the parking lot as a shortcut.
Currently, Smith said, many drivers use the Veteran’s Way road as a shortcut to avoid the stoplight near town hall.
Plans show customers parking at the Deep River Shopping Center will be able to use a relocated crosswalk to shop at Walgreens and pedestrians from town hall could use a pedestrian walkway cutting through the parking lot.
According to Kastner, the pending land swap would allow the town to own the former .44 acre LaPlace property, assessed at $158,200, to build a parking lot with granite curbing and islands paid for by Turnpike Properties.
Kastner said the former .50 acre Deep River Inn property will be owned by Turnpike Properties and is slated to become a Walgreens.
The Walgreens pharmacy would fill a void created in downtown Deep River when Community Pharmacy closed its doors in June 2000.
Currently the nearest pharmacies to Deep River are located in Essex, Old Saybrook, and Clinton.
