Friday, June 27, 2003
Walgreens has no comment about the situation.
& lt;a href=mailto:jgoodwin@vindy.com & gt;By JOHN W. GOODWIN JR & lt;/a & gt;.
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
POLAND -- Walgreens may have a variance to build a store on U.S. Route 224 here, but it does not have the blessing of all village residents.
Earlier this year, Walgreens submitted plans to village officials for a building at McKinley Way (U.S. Route 224) and North Main Street (state Route 170).
The area is zoned village center commercial with a 4,000-square-foot maximum for retail businesses. The planned Walgreens would be nearly four times that size.
To put the store at that site, Walgreens would need the variance or a complete zoning change.
The zoning appeals board granted the variance to the store. The appeals board voted 4-1 to allow the variance for the 14,500 square foot building. Officials have said the building would be a two-story facility that would have the appearance of four small storefronts from the outside.
Michael Polzin of Walgreens said the corporation has no comment on the situation.
Residents' petitions
Several residents, however, have been circulating petitions to place the variance granted to the store on the November ballot. The residents say a vote is the only way to clearly determine what is in the best interest of the village.
The village now has pockets of small businesses along the Route 224 strip that give the area, residents say, a small-town feel that has been lost in most communities. Resident Patricia Fithian said that small-town atmosphere is not something residents here are willing to give up, as evidenced by the number of names on the petition.
She said about 115 signatures are needed to place the variance issue on the ballot. She said residents were able to quickly collect more than 200 signatures requesting that the matter be put on the ballot.
Traffic concerns
Fithian said residents are concerned about the store's coming here for a number of reasons -- one of the most important being traffic. She said customers coming to and from the store will make the traffic situation on 224 unbearable for those who live here.
"I have no doubt that this will be a very nice looking building, but that will be about 900 cars there a day," she said.
Fithian said if Walgreens is permitted to build a large store, other business owners will feel, and rightfully so, that they too should be permitted to place larger stores here.
& lt;a href=mailto:jgoodwin@vindy.com & gt;jgoodwin@vindy.com & lt;/a & gt;