Plans for CVS Shelved

The rescinding of at the corner of East Montauk Highway and South Wellwood Avenue and the progress of the were among the top items discussed at the most recent Board .

The board approved the request for the withdrawal of the rezoning application associated with the plans for a CVS submitted by local developer Matrix Realty Associates to the VOL’s Planning Board earlier this year.

The board had no other information, but Mayor Tom Brennan told Lindenhurst Patch that, “The plan as presented has been withdrawn. But will they resubmit new plans? Not sure. Hopefully, they’ll be a lot smaller.”

A preliminary hearing before the planning board was held on March 17 to hear the proposal for the CVS. Now the project looks uncertain.

The initial plans called for rezoning part of the three-property-plot of land currently occupied by the , an adjacent private residence and the adjacent law firm owned by Steve Kretz, whose firm had also been representing the project.

The initial rezoning request would’ve landed with those plans in front of the , where the prospects didn’t look good since the mayor and possibly two other unnamed board members would vote against it.

“I made a commitment eight years ago that there would be no drug store there. So if it comes in front of me, I’m voting against it,” said Brennan.

However, according to the mayor, there’s a small possibility that new plans would pass the village board. That’s only if no rezoning is required, and that has to do with the clearance in the back in relation to the residences behind the property, he said.

“The plans as presented,” Brennan added, “were way too big.”

The board also discussed at the the resurfacing of the Village Park playground, which has now been put on hold for a bit.

“Suffolk County was giving us a $40,000 grant to do the project. We put in the application for it and included labor costs,” explained Brennan. “The county was ready to deny it because of the labor.”

Brennan called the county, and asked, “What project doesn’t include labor?” The mayor said the county had no answer and finally gave the green light.

However, the delay in funds postponed the project the village was hoping to have completed before the heavy use of the summer season, already upon us.

According to Doug Madlon, , “We had everything lined up, and we were going to move forward anyway, but the mayor said to hold off. And now we’ll have to put it off since many elementary schools have picnics there.”

“The director of the children’s camp also came to us and asked if we could postpone till after the camps are over,” added Brennan.

That pushes back the project to August or September, they said.