Developer changes plan for Lindenhurst CVS

A developer is offering up revamped plans for a CVS pharmacy in a busy part of Lindenhurst Village, one year after residents decried the original plan.

Matrix Realty Associates of Smithtown is seeking to build a 24-hour CVS with a drive-through prescription window at the northeast corner of Montauk Highway and South Wellwood Avenue. The site plan, which requires variances for height and zoning, would replace CVS operations in a smaller building at 150 S. Wellwood.

After the proposal was brought before the village planning board in March 2011, residents living near the site voiced disapproval, saying the business would affect their quality of life.Village officials expressed concern about the impact on traffic and pedestrian safety and requested further engineering research. As a result, the developer withdrew the plans.

Now, Matrix is back with a slightly modified plan, offering two possible layouts. Both move the building south, leaving it entirely within the area zoned for business. Only the parking would extend into the area zoned residential. Also new is a proposed left turn lane for CVS customers heading south on Wellwood Avenue. The developer also plans to install a pedestrian warning sign on Wellwood.

The changes represent a "sincere gesture on our part to address residents' concerns," said attorney Steve Kretz, who represents Matrix and whose office sits on the proposed site. Also on the site are a private home and a boat shop that has been vacant for several years.

The changes seemed to do little to quell residents' concerns.

Maryann Currie, who lives across the street from the site, said a left lane on Wellwood would create a dangerous situation. She also criticized the size of the building and its 72,988-square-foot site, calling it the "Nassau Coliseum of CVSs."

"When you have this amount of traffic and a building this monstrous, it shouldn't be on a corner," she said.

Barbara Negosh, who lives on nearby Washington Avenue, called the project a "disaster waiting to happen."

"Why would the board allow this residential area to be eroded further?" she asked. "Please vote this down. This is wrong."

Yvonne Dumaresq, who owns the home on the site and wants to sell it, said she understood concerns but that keeping CVS on the tax rolls helps lower taxes for residents at a time when there are still vacant storefronts downtown. "Would empty buildings be better?" she asked. "Lindenhurst is going to become a ghost town."

Mayor Thomas Brennan said last year he would vote against the plan if it came before the village board. He said he has not seen the revamped plan -- which is before the planning and zoning boards -- but remains against a pharmacy on that corner.