Pending Some Changes, Design Review Finds Proposed CVS 'Consistent' With Guidelines

While it hinged on numerous recommendations, the town’s Design Review Team found a proposed CVS building “consistent” with its guidelines Monday night.

Konover Development Corp. of Farmington is planning to anchor its proposed development at the corner of Route 44 and Lawton Road with the pharmacy.

On Monday, the company, some of its consultants and an architect for CVS, Kevin Paton of BKA Architects, appeared before the DRT for the third time.

In a meeting of some four hours, the DRT had numerous suggestions and made many recommendations to Paton and Konover as they prepare to bring a site plan to the Zoning Commission on Aug. 17.

The team, for example, asked the company to scale back proposed 25-foot high lighting around the building, stating that it was out of scale with the village and pedestrian friendly concept of the development.

“It looks like it’s out of place,” chairman Gary Hath said of the proposed lighting.

Members also made suggestions on other exterior lighting aspects, parking, tree choice and density, plantings and style of stone walls used at the site, recommending some on Morgan Road be used as a guide.

It also made some architectural recommendations as well, including the use of crown moldings and an open valley on the roof.

Despite the length of the meeting, members concurred that the development plan had come a long way since the first Design Review Team Meeting on the project on June 28.

At that meeting, Paton showed the team a modular-type design CVS used in Coventry and other places.

At that June meeting, Paton and Konover representatives said it was merely a starting point but DRT members, including Frank Mariano, pointedly asked Paton if he had read the DRT guidelines about fitting into the character of the town and incorporating design elements used in the area.

On July 25, a second meeting was held and Paton and the company introduced a Greek revival type design that incorporated elements similar to many area buildings, including those around the Town Green.

The proposal involves concrete foundations, structural steel frame and metal stud and clapboard exterior cladding. The color of the building is described as "Dunmore Cream."

The company also worked on improving parking areas and circulation, tweaking landscaping and added other elements to the design such as stone walls along parts of Route 44 and Lawton Road.  

On Monday, Konover consultant Robin Messier Pearson of Shipman, Sosensky and Marks LLC of Farmington, said she felt the July meeting had gone very well while the night's meeting, with the numerous changes, was “tougher.”

Pearson said the developer had responded to the suggestions, would work to incorporate the latest ones wherever possible and even offered to e-mail some update designs, such as lighting, to members as early as this week.

“It will be very important to us if you conveyed to the commission that this was a good effort,” she said.

While stating that the CVS’s needs and budget constraints limited the project in some ways, Mariano said it had come a long way.

“I think you guys did a great job,” he said.

And while stopping short of recommending approval, the DRT did find the plan consistent with “Town of Canton Design Review Guidelines provided” its recommendations are incorporated into the plan.

The DRT’s role in the process is advisory but the goal is to work with developers in advancing of the zoning process. The DRT brochure, in part states, “The DRT collaborates with applicants to help them avoid problems and expensive reworking of the design by assuring that the designs submitted for site plan approval are consistent with the Town’s standards and expectations, based on section 8800 of the Canton Zoning Regulations.”

And Konover is hoping this latest proposal will finally bring development to the property, which it has been working on for more than 10 years.

Various plans have been submitted and a proposed Home Goods store and surrounding development was approved. However, that project never materialized and earlier this year, the company successfully fought for a zone change for the property allowing a secondary public access from Lawton Road. Despite the objections of many residents, most in the immediate area, the Zoning Commission granted the change in May.

The latest plan calls for the 16,000-square-foot CVS at the front of the property, a 2,500 to 7,000 square-feet building near the corner of Lawton Road and Route 44 and a third development near the rear of approximately 32,300 square feet.

The pharmacy would come first to anchor the property. The plan also calls for many utility improvements in the area and other changes such as additional lanes on Lawton Road at its intersection with Route 44.