Montclair Planning Director: CVS Parking Lot Repairs Are Anticipated

A one-way exit can be a dangerous thing when drivers don’t know which way to go.

The CVS parking lot on Valley Road is overdue for a refurbishing, according to several Montclair Planning Board members and some local patrons of the national pharmacy chain.

There’s the issue of handicapped parking, which is needed to bring the lot in line with the Americans with Disabilities Act. There are potholes that reportedly pockmark the lot. And the area needs better lighting and garbage disposal practices.

• See related article: Montclair Planning Board to CVS: Fix Your Parking Lot

Now CVS property managers can add another item to the list… fixing an allegedly confusing entrance/exit situation.

Montclair resident Kathy Stollmack told Patch that the current situation is unacceptable.

“Since these signs aren’t marked clearly, drivers often enter the one-way exit… I’ve witnessed several near and actual accidents,” Stollmack said.

Montclair Planning Director Janice Talley agreed with Stollmack.

“I have also frequently experienced vehicles entering the site via the egress driveway and have been nearly hit twice by cars backing out of spaces in the lot,” Talley wrote to Stollmack in an email.

“The CVS parking lot was the discussed at a public hearing at two Planning Board meetings,” Talley stated. “As a result of these meetings, the board is requiring CVS to repair the parking lot. The public safety issue of the entrance/exit on Valley Road was also discussed and CVS has agreed to reconfigure these driveways, add a landscaped island to between the two driveways to better channel traffic and add new traffic control signage. A number of other changes were required and I anticipate that we will have a safer, more attractive parking lot at this store.”

“All of these changes were a condition to their site plan approval, so we are assured that they will be completed,” Talley added.

Send Montclair news tips to eric.kiefer@patch.com