Walgreens may bypass decision by City Council

By Alex Bridges -- Daily Staff Writer

WINCHESTER — If the city's second Walgreens has another chance, it won't come from the council.

The City Council's planning and development committee appeared poised on Wednesday to discuss a possible "re-vote" on a request to rezone property at Amherst Street and Selma Drive for a Walgreens pharmacy.

But Councilwoman and committee Chairwoman Carolyn Griffin had the item stricken from the agenda at the beginning of Wednesday's meeting, citing a need to discuss the matter in closed session with City Attorney Anthony Williams.

As it turns out, the developers won't need to have the property rezoned.

"We're revising the site plan so that we don't have to get property rezoned and we'll just go to the Planning Commission and get site-plan approval," said Ron Mislowski, with Patton, Harris, Rust & Associates, adding that site plans do not require a vote by council.

But that route takes away some of the flexibility developers would have if the property they planned to use was rezoned, Mislowski said. A rezoning would have let developers use parking space in the adjacent Selma Medical Associates lot, enabling them to landscape some areas in the rear of the property and saving several old trees.

"Now we probably won't be able to do that because we'll have to put all 51 spaces on our property," Mislowski said. "We're working with the city" to try to save some or all of the trees.

The site will require much infill to make the lot level, he noted, made all the more complicated by the several trees on the property.

The rezoning request ran into a roadblock earlier this month when council voted 4-4 to approve the ordinance amendment. A tie vote killed the measure. Griffin did not attend the Aug. 12 meeting for the vote.

Patton, Harris, Rust & Associates made the request for an ordinance amendment to conditionally rezone 1 acre at 326-328 Amherst St. and one-tenth of an acre at 104 Selma Drive to business use with proffers. The entire property, most of which is occupied by Dellinger Motor Co., would be used for a Walgreens pharmacy.

The developers plan to use a parcel behind the automobile dealership to accommodate parking for the pharmacy, which would also feature a drive-through window.

But council failed to approve the rezoning despite endorsements of the request by the Planning Commission and city staff. The Board of Architectural Review also backed the building of a Walgreens on the site in the historic district.

At the meeting Wednesday morning, after the panel discussed other items, its members went into closed session to consult with Williams. They took no action on the request after coming out of closed session.

* Contact Alex Bridges at abridges@nvdaily.com