Mar 9, 2016 10:01 AM

Westhampton Beach Village Board members approved a special exception application last week that could pave the way for a CVS to open in the old bowling alley building on Sunset Avenue.

The application, which was filed by Manhattan-based Sunset West LLC, sought permission for the developer to build a 10,000-square-foot store inside the currently gutted and vacant 20,000-square-foot building.

The special exception permit—approved last Thursday, March 3—was needed from the Village Board because 3,000 square feet is the limit on the space that can be occupied by a single business on the property, which falls within the village’s Main Street business district. That zoning was approved several years ago, but plans for the almost 2-acre property date back nearly a decade.

According to Village Board member Ralph Urban, last week’s action was a conditional approval, and the new store is not to exceed 10,000 square feet. The applicants are also required to submit a trash disposal plan, ensure that there is a 10-foot transitional area between the parking lot and nearby residential neighborhood, get approval of any material changes throughout the process, and ensure that six planned storefronts—three on each side of the main entrance to the CVS—have access to a loading and dumpster area.

Multiple calls this week to the developer and to CVS Pharmacy inquiring about the timeline for the conversion of the old bowling alley were not returned.

Don Jewell, the architect for Sunset West LLC, this week submitted an application to renovate the old bowling alley building, according to Westhampton Beach Village Building and
Zoning Administrator Paul Houlihan. The Westhampton Beach Planning Board is expected to review the document at its meeting on Thursday, April 14.

According to documentation, board members found that the special exception use would not hinder use of nearby properties, or diminish the value of those properties. They also determined that although some members of the community expressed concerns about competition and a “perceived lack of need for a drugstore,” there was no reason to reject the application. Two other drugstores—including Barth’s Pharmacy that sits almost directly across the street, as well as a Rite Aid—already operate in the village.

Westhampton Beach residents were offered two chances to attend public hearings, the first in December and the second in January, to share their concerns about the special exception application. Most who spoke at both hearings were opposed to allowing a special exception. Some felt that there was no need for a third pharmacy. Others stated that their opposition was grounded in the fact that current zoning, which was updated in 2007, prohibits stores larger than 3,000 square feet in that part of the village.

The original goal of the change in zoning was to prevent chains from opening large stores within the municipality’s main business district, which spans all of Main Street and most of Sunset Avenue.

Westhampton Beach Village Attorney Stephen Angel told the nearly three dozen residents at the second hearing that the 2006 Business Districts Comprehensive Plan Update, approved in April 2007, allows applicants—in this instance, the property owner and not CVS Pharmacy, the potential lessee—to apply for a special exception even though zoning caps the size of retail stores in the district.

To apply for such a permit, the applicant needed to provide an impact study that evaluated whether the proposed use would hurt existing businesses. That study was completed and, according to the decision made by the Village Board, did not show enough evidence of a negative impact to warrant denying the exemption.

Any changes that the developer wants to make will need to go through the Westhampton Beach Village Planning Board and Architectural Review Board.

Village Board members also made a change to the village’s peddling and soliciting law. The new law makes it illegal for solicitors to step foot onto a property if a “No Soliciting” sign is placed in a visible location on the property.

“As a convenience for our residents, we are having those signs made up and they’ll be available at Village Hall for free,” Mr. Urban said.

Village Mayor Maria Moore also honored three of Westhampton Beach’s senior residents by giving each of them a proclamation and a key to the village. Those residents were Jean Tocko, who turned 100 years old on August 31, John Comba, who will turn 100 on March 18, and Rose Loos, who turned 100 on March 3.