North Castle Planning Board Recommends CVS Special Permit
The controversial plan to bring a CVS Pharmacy to Armonk took another step forward last week.
The North Castle Planning Board voted unanimously on July 2 to recommend that the town board grant a special permit for the project.
Eden Enterprises LLC is seeking to convert the building that formerly housed the A&P supermarket at 450 Main St. for the chain pharmacy. The issue of CVS opening in downtown Armonk has generated considerable opposition from residents and local business owners during the past year.
Planning Board Chairman Robert Greene said the special permit application was complete and should be sent to the town board with a positive recommendation from the planners.
One issue addressed by the board last week was parking. Greene said that while there have been 160 parking spaces proposed for the shopping center, that number does not necessarily have to be available from the day CVS opens, he said.
“See how many of the 160 spaces can be land banked,” Greene told the applicant’s representatives. “You’ve got plenty of room here.”
Alfred DelBello, the attorney for Eden Enterprises, agreed with Greene. He said he hoped the planning board would hold its public hearing for the project at its next meeting on July 23. The town’s Architectural Review Board recently provided conditional design concept approval, he said.
Town Attorney Roland Baroni suggested that the town board first hold a public hearing on the special use permit before the planning board schedule a hearing on the site plan. No date was announced last week for when the CVS application will return to the planning board.
The proposal is before the planning board for site plan review. The town board must also approve a special permit because the proposal includes the addition of retail space.
The pharmacy would use 17,389 square feet while there would be 2,497 square feet for another operator to open a retail food business.
