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Board denies drugstore rezoning plan
By MAUREEN BYRNE © St. Petersburg Times, published November 29, 2000 SEMINOLE -- CVS' bid to tear down a church and replace it with a drugstore took another blow Monday, as a planning board rejected a zoning change needed for the project. It's the second time the panel has recommended that county commissioners deny the zoning change at the southwest corner of Park Boulevard and 113th Street, where Bay Pines Evangelical Lutheran Church now stands. The church, which has stood on the corner for almost 40 years and operates an elementary school, wants to sell its 3-acre site to CVS, the nation's second-largest drugstore chain, so it can build a church and school on 4.7 acres about a mile west on Park Boulevard. CVS cannot build its planned 11,000-square-foot store unless county commissioners change the corner's zoning from residential to commercial. Though the seven-member panel issues only recommendations, county commissioners accept them about 80 percent of the time, said Paul Cassel, director of the county's development review services department. Commissioners hear the case Dec. 19. In St. Petersburg, things are moving more smoothly for a CVS drugstore planned for 845 Fourth St. N, currently site of Watson's Foodtown. Although neighbors had initially opposed the project as an intrusion into the neighborhood, CVS officials, the city and residents cooperated and adapted the plan to ensure everyone's approval. Don Mastry, an attorney for CVS, says the St. Petersburg project has cleared city regulatory hurdles and that a closing is expected soon. That is not happening in Seminole. Officials with the church and drugstore have noted that three other corners of the intersection there already are dominated with commercial property. Nevertheless, the panel of planning, zoning, traffic and utility officials reported there was no justifiable reason to grant the zoning request. "There has to be compelling reasons to change the zoning, and we just didn't find it," Cassel said. Cassel said land-use policies in the county's comprehensive plan say the site should remain residential to prohibit the encroachment of commercial property and to deter rampant commercial development on 113th Street, which was established as a scenic corridor in 1968. Some church members find the panel's reasoning hard to accept because the intersection already has commercial property, including Seminole Mall, office buildings and stores. They say the busy corner on unincorporated land is suitable only for a commercial venture. David Mueller, the church's building committee chairman, said he understands the panel's decision. "(The panel members) are protecting a 30-year-old land-use policy," he said. "But it can be changed. The policies get old and you have to change them, and maybe this is the time to do that." Neighbors who oppose the zoning change say a commercial building there would bring in too much traffic, noise and disruption. Red-and-white "STOP CVS" signs are planted in some of the yards near the corner. "That's a great relief," said Helen Ford when she heard about the panel's recommendation. Ford said the drug store would create a traffic hazard for children walking to Seminole Elementary School and would change the atmosphere of the neighborhood. "We don't want to see that property go commercial for any reason," she said. "If they move out, anything could go in there, and we don't want that. There has to be a line drawn somewhere." In July, county commissioners turned down the church's initial request for a zoning change. Commissioners told the church that if CVS made some changes to its site plan, they would reconsider the request. Three weeks ago, the company submitted a new request. Attorneys representing CVS told the county's planning and zoning panel the drugstore would do its best to appease neighbors. The company promised it would build an 8-foot privacy wall; limit store deliveries and store hours; install light poles no higher than 30 feet with shields around the lights; and build entrances and exits only on 113th Street and Park Boulevard. Mastry, an attorney for CVS, declined to comment on the panel's recommendation because he had not seen a copy of the report. Cassel said the recommendation did not come easily. "It's not an easy decision on that property because there are some good arguments on both sides," he said.
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