Walgreens To Get Occupancy Permit

After initially balking, Stop & Shop Supermarket Com­pany has committed to finishing Liberty Lane and Meeting House Road this year, paving the way for the new Walgreens to open this spring.

Late this week Stop & Shop committed to finishing the road by November 15 of this year, two years earlier than com­pany officials had previously wanted. Without the commitment, the town’s Planning Board had signaled an intention to block a temporary occupancy per­mit that Walgreens needs in order to open. But at a special board meeting this past Thursday night, the Planning Board decided to recommend that town building commissioner Robert Bullock issue a temporary certificate of occupancy for Walgreens, pending receipt of a $635,000 bond guaranteeing the roadway construction and related work.

Town officials expect that the road, a sidewalk, and street lights will be finished, and that the barren landscape known as the Moonscape will be loamed and seeded. The bond guaran­teeing that work is due March 1. Stop & Shop officials have said they can turn the new building over to Walgreens about two weeks after they receive a temporary occupancy permit, and that Walgreens would take about 30 days to stock the shelves before opening.

If the temporary occupancy permit is issued early next week, that puts a likely opening date of sometime in early April. Walgreens officials had wanted to open the store before Easter, which is Sunday, April 4. The impasse was broken this past Thursday night when Jeff Morgan, a senior asset manager for Stop & Shop, submit­ted to the board a letter from James Sylvia, senior vice presi­dent of real estate for Stop Shop, committing to completing the roadway.

A sign of lingering distrust appeared when Planning Board member Tom Burke wondered how the town can make sure that Stop & Shop actually delivers the bond guaranteeing the roadway and related work if the company receives a tempo­rary certificate of occupancy early next week. The bond is ex­pected to take longer to put in place, perhaps two weeks. “How do we stop the store from opening, is my big thing,” Burke said, worrying that the town would lose leverage once the occupancy permit is is­sued. “… I just want to walk into it eyes wide open. We know ex­actly who we’re dealing with over there.”

Planning Board chairman Da­vid Roche said it’s not clear to him that the board can indefinitely pre­vent the town’s building commis­sioner from issuing an occupancy permit now that the building is nearing completion, and that in any event it appears Stop & Shop plans to follow through on the bond.

“I know there’s ugly feelings be­tween Stop & Shop and the town, but at some point I think we have to extend some courtesy … to get Walgreens open,” Roche said. The Planning Board and Stop & Shop have been going round and round on the proposed devel­opment of several stores west of Norfolk Town Hall since the early years of the last decade. The development, known as Norfolk Commons, is supposed to include a supermarket, a retail store, and perhaps a bank in addi­tion to the Walgreens. The Walgreens and a smaller retail store next to it are nearing completion. But there is no sign of a supermarket, and town officials have said they don’t expect Stop & Shop will ever build one.

Last week, for the first time ever, a Stop & Shop official said a supermarket for Norfolk is in the company’s capital plan, for 2012. Town officials have said Stop & Shop officials have spoken recently about constructing a supermarket much smaller than the one they got approval from the Planning Board to build in February 2008 — per­haps

20,000 to 25,000 square feet, as opposed to the 50,000-plus-square-foot building the company pursued plans for a few years ago.

Whatever happens with the su­permarket, the Walgreens is sup­posed to be the success story of Norfolk Commons, since it’s near­ly finished. But its immediate fu­ture seemed in doubt after a testy meeting last week between Stop & Shop representatives and Planning Board members.

During that meeting, Ken Staf­fier, an engineering consultant for Stop & Shop who works for Va­nasse, Hangen, Brustlin, an engi­neering firm in Watertown, told the Planning Board that Stop & Shop wanted to finish the road by November 15, 2012. That suggestion drew fire from Planning Board members, who said the road was supposed to be completed by now. “Change that to November 15th, 2010. And then you have 21 days’ notice after that, and we’re taking the bond,” Planning Board member Thomas Burke told Staf­fier.

“… The simple fact of the mat­ter is we’ve been playing this game for far too long. And it was quite clear last fall that the roadway expectation was to be completed now. Not two years from now. Not three years from now. Not fiveyears from now,” Burke said. Board member Peter Chipman also lit into Stop & Shop during the meeting Thursday, February 11. “For the record, Stop & Shop has been completely disrespectful to this board, completely disre­spectful to everyone in the town of Norfolk. Because you know what? You have totally screwed around with our financial future,” Chip­man said, adding that the town was counting heavily on Stop & Shop building at Norfolk Commons to spur other commercial develop­ment in the town center. “… And not only, but you have another 40-plus families living up overlooking the carnage you’ve left on our town center,” Chipman said, referring to Norfolk Town Center Condominiums, which has a com­manding view of the Moonscape. “And you know what? I don’t think you give a damn about us.” Carmine Tomas, a lawyer with the Boston law firm Goulston & Storrs who represents Stop & Shop, asked the board to consider going ahead with the occupancy permit for Walgreens and discussing the roadway separately. “Clearly, we understand the board is frustrated, and we under­stand why,” Tomas said. “But we just want to be sure I think we un­derstand the board’s position go­ing forward. I think we’re willing to continue to work with the board on the roadway issues, and we un­derstand that they’re of serious concern to the board. At the same time we think there’s great poten­tial for this Walgreens site. And it could be a great story. And to get that to move as quickly as possible is really in everybody’s best inter­est.

This is an active use that’s just ready to go. And so I guess what I’d like to ask if the board would be willing to consider would be to in a sense separate the two issues.”

“You can stop right there. Ab­solutely not,” Burke said. Burke said town officials are anxious for the Walgreens to open, but that the Planning Board can’t give up its leverage to make Stop & Shop build the rest of the road­way. “We can’t wait for Walgreens to open. And the only problem on Walgreens opening is Stop & Shop’s. It’s not this board, it’s not this town, it’s the company that re­tains you.” “I understand why, but you’re making a connection that’s not really there,” said Tomas, Stop & Shop’s lawyer.

“Oh, it’s there,” Burke said.

Board member Andrea Lang­hauser noted that Norfolk Com­mons, which includes the Wal­greens, the retail store next to it, and the proposed supermarket, is a planned unit development, meaning all aspects of it are tied together.

Tomas said that the Walgreens approval included finishing the roadway only to the Walgreens, not farther up the hill to the super­market lot and beyond. But Planning Board members disagreed.

“They were specificallytold that that roadway had to be finished. That’s a fact,” board member Ste­ven McClain said. “We can have that discussion any other day. If you roll open the plans, Phase 1 includes the whole roadway,” Planning Board chair­man David Roche said.

“We want to work constructive­ly with the board, and that’s why I’m just asking if the board’s will­ing to consider it,” Tomas said. “Our consideration is the fact that the road’s not there today, and we’re entertaining November 2010,” Burke said. “There’s your consideration. “We just wish the road had been finished when you were working on the road,” McClain said. “And then Walgreens would have their temporary occupancy permit, and all would be good,” Burke said.