Quoted Text

R O T T E R D A M
Walgreen’s plan up for board approval
BY MATT VOLKE Gazette Reporter

   Plans to tear down the Capitol Plaza in Rotterdam for a Walgreen’s drug store will be eligible for approval Tuesday, and the public will have a chance to speak.
   The Rotterdam Planning Commission will be conducting a final site plan review at 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 1100 Sunrise Blvd., along with a public hearing on the project.
   HDB Ventures, which has offices in Skaneateles, New Jersey and Connecticut, has a proposal for a 14,700-square-foot drug store with 65 parking spaces, and will require Capitol Plaza to be demolished.
   The plaza was the town’s first mall, built in the mid-1950s, and is zoned for commercial use, allowing a drug store.
   There are 14 small businesses in the plaza, like a pizza shop, restaurant/bar, men’s clothing store, dance studio and printer.
   Developers have said the leases of the tenants will be honored, and have said they are looking for alternative locations to place them.
   HDB has the option to buy the property based on Planning Commission approval. Developers have said they are considering buying the Grand Union building on Hamburg Street to relocate businesses.
   Planning Commission co-chairman Frank Renna said he plans to meet with some of the businesses today."I feel pretty secure they’ve been taking care of the tenants," Renna said.
   Planning Commission member Robert Godlewski said he has concerns about both the potential loss of small businesses and traffic.
   He also questioned the need for another pharmacy in that area. There is an Eckerd, a Rite Aid, which is proposing an expansion, a Hannaford and Price Chopper, both with pharmacies, and a Wal-Mart.
   "I kind of like seeing all those businesses there," he said. "It’s one of the few places where you have such a selection of businesses. . . . I don’t want to lose that."
   Both Godlewski, a Democrat, and Renna, a Republican, are running for Town Board in November for the only open seat.