Sussex council delays vote on CVS pharmacy
More than 30 people with red shirts reading “Vote Yes to CVS” will have to come back to Georgetown another day to get an answer from Sussex County Council on two applications paving the way for construction of a CVS pharmacy at the entrance to the Villages of Five Points in Lewes.
After sitting through a long public hearing and other council business, residents – those for and against the applications – left without a vote. Council deferred on a decision until the Tuesday, May 17 meeting to allow time for planning and zoning staff to compile a list of possible conditions pertaining to the applications.
Developer Olde Towne Point LLC is seeking a zoning change that would modify a previously approved condition that required a 4-acre parcel of land near the entrance to the community be devoted to community use. That condition excludes commercial uses.
The developer wants to maintain community use on 2.5 acres, but seeks to change the remaining 1.5 acres to a conditional use for a CVS pharmacy at the corner of Savannah Road and North Village Main Boulevard.
Public hearings have been held on the zoning-change and conditional-use applications with planning and zoning commissioners recommending denial of both requests. In the 4-1 vote, commissioners said the original condition, designating the parcel for community use, should be upheld. Commissioner I.G., Burton said the applicant proposed the idea when the original Villages of Five Points project was approved.
Christian Hudson, representing the developer, testified that the 2.5-acre parcel would be donated to Lewes Public Library or, if the library turned down the donation, to the homeowners association.
Councilwoman Joan Deaver, D-Rehoboth Beach, said the applications were interrelated. “ I need to see some conditions before I can vote,” she said. “They are asking us to remove a condition of approval, and that’s a big move on our part.”
One of those conditions, she said, should contain a timeframe for the donation of the 2.5-acre parcel.
