Business & Tech

Residents Argue CVS Plan Would Mar Character of Neighborhood

Developer says unique plan would be an improvement.

A team of engineers, lawyers and developers and a few dozen residents attended a public hearing Tuesday night – the first to present and the second to argue against a plan to allow a new CVS building with a drive-through window to replace the Silo restaurant.

Robert Reeve, of Scully, Nicksa & Reeve in Unionville, presented the proposal, which he said represents an improvement over what’s there and what could be there.

Mary Santorso, owner of the Silo restaurant, wants to retire and has had the property on the market for $2 million for several years. She has been in discussions with CVS for several years. A similar proposal to move the Post Office Square store to the site was rejected by the Town Plan and Zoning Commission in 2006.

Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.

The property spans 2 acres and is zoned for business retail, with both the Silo and an office building on the site. Reeve said the site was developed before modern zoning regulations and CVS has offered to meet or improve all of the deviances from zoning standards.

The plan proposes a 12,900-square-foot building, which would cover 57 percent of the property, an increase of 2,000 to 3,000 square feet from the current coverage, Reeve said. The plan would eliminate 8,000 square feet of pavement and increase the amount of landscaping from 3 percent of the property to 14 percent, adding 50 new trees and flowering shrubs along Main Street.

Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.

“This is not what I’d call a typical urban CVS that you’ve seen. This has a number of elements like gables and peaks,” Reeve said. Its design would be similar to pharmacies in Old Saybrook and Glastonbury.

In addition to peaks and gables, trim and a white picket fence, the plan adds to the height of the proposed building by 5 to 6 feet from the 2006 proposal. Lighting on the property has been chosen to prevent any spillage of light beyond the property lines and 2 to 2.5 foot berms along Main Street would prevent headlights from shining onto Main Street, according to Jeff Giannone, developer for the project. One of two driveways entering the property from Main Street would be removed and a sidewalk would extend in front of the property to allow Farmstead Lane residents to walk to the store.

“We took feedback from the TPZ and we’ve incorporated everything. I can honestly say we’ve covered every single one of your concerns. The developer has been having meetings with neighbors on Farmstead and I believe we’ve addressed as many of the issues we can address,” Giannone said.

One concern is traffic. A traffic study, done in 2006 and reviewed this year, contends there would be very little impact on the traffic flow of the area if the CVS with drive-through window were built. According to Giannone, pharmacies draw customers from a 5-mile radius and the customers who would use the new CVS are the same as those who patronize it now.

“There is not going to be any new traffic from this CVS even if Walgreens moved in across the street; you can’t manufacture more people to go to the pharmacy,” he said.

But some said they might all come at peak times, increasing traffic congestion, especially with the proposed drive-through window to be placed on the rear of the building. The prescription pick-up window, Reeve said, would be a convenience for women with sick children and people with mobility issues. Farmington’s ordinance prohibits drive-through windows for restaurants but allows them at banks.

Residents disagreed with the findings of the traffic study and on the character of the area. Several residents called the site the gateway to the historic district and to the town. A few said they moved to Farmington because it is charming and free from the sprawl seen in other towns.

Conversely, Reeve and a few speakers called it a transitional area, pointing to the mixed land usage. Neighbors of the property include Touchpoints, a 30,000-square-foot skilled-nursing facility with 120 beds and 100 employees. Offices, Landworks Realty and a few homes surround the site and up the street is a gas station and Dunkin’ Donuts.

How the CVS might affect the area was the central issue for many residents, who called it a big box store, a multimillion-dollar corporation and a sign of sprawl that would detract from the character of the area. 

“It takes away from the community that we live in and begins to look like were living in an area of sprawl,” said Andrew Steiner. He mentioned he was also concerned about crime.

Elizabeth Gemski, who recently moved to Farmington, said she was concerned her property values would drop if the CVS were approved.

“It’s like a wolf in sheep’s clothing. At the end of the day it’s still a CVS and it’s going to draw traffic,” she said.

One point Reeve said the developer is proud of is the addition of a state-of-the-art water system. The site currently has no storm-water drainage system or way to treat water that may run off the property.

Finally, Reeve told the group that while the Silo has been a good, quiet neighbor, many restaurants do much more business, with a much greater impact of noise and traffic. He said CVS had agreed to limit hours of deliveries and trash pickup to 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., agreed to put in sidewalks, reduced the height of the building and put in measures to prevent light spilling onto other properties. There are very few things the company is not willing to do to appease the neighbors, he said.

He reminded them that the $2 million property has not sold after several years on the market and Mrs. Santorso could rent the property to another restaurant, bar or club without getting approval from the zoning commission.

The issue was continued to the commission’s next meeting.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here