Planning board to consider new CVS pharmacy at Chipman's Corner

WOONSOCKET - Members of the Woonsocket Planning Board are expected to consider again the master plan for a new CVS pharmacy at Chipman's Corner tonight, Nov. 5, at 7 p.m. in Harris Hall.

It's a proposal that's a study in contrasts - business growth vs. neighborhood stability.

This national retail pharmacy giant, headquartered in the city, proposes closing its Walnut Hill and Cass Avenue stores and constructing a new store at Chipman's Corner on Mendon Road.

"The reason we're building this store is to remain competitive in the marketplace. We're trying to stay competitive, keep people working and create new jobs," Dino DeThomas, CVS senior vice president of development, told the Planning Board during a three-hour public hearing on Oct. 27.

However, some residents of Chipman's Corner feel locating a new CVS store in their neighborhood is an assault on their quality of life, the residents raising concerns about traffic congestion and safety at the Oct. 27 meeting.

Allowing a new CVS store at Chipman's Corner would exacerbate already nightmarish traffic conditions at the intersection of Mendon Road and Cass Avenue, several residents told the planners.

"I can't even go on Cass Avenue when the (Woonsocket) high school gets out," Anne Cahill of Nursery Avenue said of the traffic nightmares plaguing the neighborhood.

"We're concerned about the safety of our children," she told the planners.

At the hearing's conclusion, the Planning Board announced it expects to submit its finding of facts and render a decision on CVS's request for master plan approval at its meeting tonight at 7 in Harris Hall.

Under questioning from John J. Bolton, an attorney representing CVS/Caremark, Todd E. Brayton, CVS's traffic expert, testified that at the peak hour there would only be a three percent to five percent increase in traffic at the Mendon Road-Cass Avenue intersection, which he labeled "not a significant change."

Bolton also reminded the Planning Board that only CVS/Caremark had presented expert testimony regarding traffic issues, while foes to the proposed new store had presented no expert witnesses to support their claim of traffic congestion.

"The silence is deafening," he said in reference to the opponents' lack of expert testimony.

Nevertheless, Kelley Nickson Morris, representing Ronald Genereux of 41 Dana St., waded into the traffic issue.

Nickson Morris voiced skepticism over Brayton's findings that closing two nearby CVS stores would have no significant impact on traffic at Chipman's Corner.

"It really makes no sense," she told the board.

"You should be concerned by additional traffic that hasn't been analyzed. You don't have accurate traffic numbers," she told the board.

Nickson Morris also argued because CVS sells food in its stores, CVS meets the definition of a supermarket under the city's zoning ordinance, which is not allowed in a mixed-use zone.

DeThomas scoffed at Nickson Morris' analysis.

"To say CVS is a supermarket is ludicrous. We are a drugstore," he said, also telling the board that only 15 percent of a CVS store's square footage is devoted to food items and 70 percent of sales are prescriptions.

Bolton also dismissed Nickson Morris' contention.

To call CVS a supermarket questions the credibility of the store's foes, he told the board.

Genereux, whose property would abut a new CVS, said locating a CVS at Chipman's Corner would turn life in the neighborhood upside down.

Ed Tupper of 26 Dana St. said a new CVS would affect the quality of his family's life.

"My son's room will be lit up all night as if it's day," he said of his concerns about lighting at a new CVS.

However, Roland Michaud of Manville Road classified neighborhood objections to a new CVS as "pure NIMBYism."

CVS is a quality company, he said, and the company's Chipman's Corner proposal is "called progress and we have to move forward. We need the taxable income."

John C. Gregory, president and chief executive officer of the Northern Rhode Island Chamber of Commerce, also backed CVS's application.

Referring to previous redevelopment of the city's Social district, Gregory said what CVS is proposing at Chipman's Corner is not unprecedented.

While he understands change can be troubling, CVS has proven a "good corporate neighbor" and CVS's proposal is "change you get used to because it betters the community."

Rose Trudeau of 1144 Mendon Road wasn't swayed by Gregory's position.

Pointing out that her family's been established at Chipman's Corner for 100 years, she said, "CVS is not hurting financially and does not need a store at this location."

The CVS proposal stirred strong opposition when it was unveiled in July 2008.

The Planning Board rejected CVS's application for master plan approval in December 2008, citing incompatibility with the neighborhood and noncompliance with the city's Comprehensive Plan.

On the heels of the planners' rejection, the City Council denied CVS's request for a zone change.

But CVS resubmitted a modified plan in August, which the developers said represented substantial changes to its original concept.

However, neighbors say there's virtually no difference between both CVS plans.

"What has changed?" Nickson Morris asked the Planning Board at the outset of the Oct. 27 meeting.

Jeannine Borozny of 232 Dana St. said the former Bonin Spinning complex, a short distance from Chipman's Corner, was a better location for a new CVS.

"I don't understand why they can't get it in their head we don't want them in our neighborhood," she said in voicing the neighborhood's exasperation in dealing with the CVS proposal.