Carrboro CVS delayed again per business’s request

Plans for a new CVS at 201 N. Greensboro St., which have met resistance from residents and town officials, have been delayed once again.

But this time it was CVS that asked for the delay.

The Carrboro Board of Aldermen voted Tuesday night to indefinitely postpone the April 17 public hearing, when they were scheduled to make a final decision on the rezoning.

According to town documents, the planning board recommended that the board deny the current request.

Town planners cited the lack of pedestrian access and poor integration with downtown development as reasons to deny the rezoning.

In response to that feedback, CVS asked for more time to revise its concept plan, Alderman Dan Coleman said.

“Depending on the nature of their revisions, they may require an additional round of reviews from the planning or advisory board,” he said.

Coleman said CVS made the decision to delay the public hearing after presenting three different conceptual plans to the planning advisory boards.

Alderwoman Lydia Lavelle said CVS also asked for the delay to better respond to neighborhood feedback.

“Based on feedback from the community and the planning and transportation advisory boards, they said they wanted to reconsider the plans they presented,” she said.

Leigh Polzella, the developer for the project, said there is no definitive time frame that CVS will need to consider revisions to their concept plan.

“Following the comments made during the March 1 planning board public hearing and the March 15 planning board working session, we concluded that more time was needed for plan evaluation,” she said in an email.

Polzella said CVS plans to review current comments and staff reviews, and to receive the planning board’s final recommendations before proceeding with their plan evaluation.

Polzella said she couldn’t expand on what revisions CVS is considering.

“It is premature to discuss the changes we are working on,” she said.

Lavelle said whether CVS decides to submit another rezoning request, a public hearing would be rescheduled once CVS was ready to present new plans.

“No matter what happens, they are going to have a public hearing,” she said.

Approval for rezoning will require a three-fourths majority vote from the Board of Aldermen after residents filed a petition earlier this month.

Though many have opposed the property and say it would destroy the town’s character, Carrboro resident Lynn Hayes said she looks forward to hearing the town’s decision on the potential rezoning.

“Right now there is this ugly abandoned building,” she said. “Anything would look better than what it is right now.”

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