CVS vote opens the door to debate

The City Council decision propels the drugstore issue into other forums, where all the particulars will be thrashed out.

By JON WILSON

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 18, 2000

ST. PETERSBURG -- Now comes the lull.

Perhaps last week's City Council vote to allow a drugstore in the North Shore neighborhood merely signaled the end of Round 1 in a long fight still ahead.

Or maybe the decision -- which followed an exhausting public hearing and four weeks of neighborhood debate -- presaged compromise between the two sides arguing over a CVS drugstore proposed for 845 Fourth St. N, a site occupied by Watson's Foodtown.

There were suggestions late last week that compromise is emerging.

Jim Martin, who helped lead a STOP CVS campaign, said he would not appeal to circuit court the council's decision to allow a rezoning necessary for the development.

And Lane Lastinger, chairman of a North Shore committee that reviews neighborhood building projects, called the council's decision "pretty much the compromise everybody was after from the beginning."

Key to the council's approval was a technical element in the rezoning: that it would not extend more than 150 feet east from Fourth Street N.

That means part of the property needed for the CVS project will remain designated for multifamily residential use rather than retail -- and that means the drugstore will have to seek special exceptions to use the property for a parking lot it needs.

It gives the North Shore neighborhood leverage to put conditions on the drugstore development that relate to such things as closing hours, landscaping, security, lighting and building design.

Those issues are bound to be discussed during the next phase of the project's permitting process.

The drugstore next will go before the Environmental Development Commission. But hearings won't be scheduled until August at the earliest, and perhaps not until September, said Don Mastry, the lawyer for the drugstore developers.

"I think everyone on both sides will try to come to a reworking that is acceptable to both sides prior to the EDC hearing," Martin said.

Martin, a former City Council member who has been among the more prominent of the drugstore foes, said he is happy with the 150-foot requirement. He did say he wished the council had required CVS to submit a site plan as a condition of rezoning to the 150-foot line.

Lastinger, who came before the council to speak against the drugstore proposal because of its size and reach into North Shore's residential section, also likes the council decision.

"It was a victory for us,"he said. "We're happy about it. It's good because the project can continue and go on to the next stage."

Had council denied the rezoning request, the drugstore project would have been dead for at least a year. Developers would have to reapply for the zoning they wanted.

"The majority of us are not looking to kill this project," Lastinger told council members.

Mastry said he didn't expect the number of drugstore supporters who came to the marathon council hearing, which started about 9 p.m. Thursday and lasted until nearly 1 a.m. Friday.

Before the hearing, at least 300 supporters' names were submitted to the City Council office on petitions or post cards. Those who favor the drugstore say they believe it will improve the Watson's site, and encourage investment along Fourth Street N.

"I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of positive support that showed up," Mastry said. "That gave me and, I think, CVS some comfort."

Nadine Smith said she and her husband went door to door in North Shore to win support for the drugstore.

She said they found that a "vast majority of North Shore residents are for CVS."

Smith also criticized opponents for spreading what she called misleading information about the historic nature of some buildings that would have to be demolished for the drugstore. During last week's hearing, council member Rene Flowers also voiced reservations about some claims by project opponents.

"On the next go-round with (the Environmental Development Commission), we'd like the opposition to keep it honest," said Smith.

Smith last week told council members she owns property that would be part of the CVS site and that she has a financial interest in the project.

Anti-drugstore forces have not based their opposition on saving Foodtown, a grocery store often maligned because of the unruly clientele it attracts.

Instead, opponents have cited fears about the project's proposed size, increased commercial activity in residential sections, added traffic, and the effect on old buildings that could contribute to the neighborhood's quest for historic designation.

Some have said the drugstore would be detrimental to North Shore's vision of Fourth Street as a strip of traditional, neighborhood businesses rather than a busy, commercial thoroughfare.

Some of those concerns will be addressed during the EDC process.

And neighborhood representatives likely will try to "whittle down" the size of the project, Lastinger said.

"We still have a lot of work to do," he said.

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