A Closer Look at the Medfield CVS Expansion Site Plan

At a public hearing held Monday, the Medfield Planning Board reviewed the application and site plan submitted by CVS Pharmacy Inc. of a proposed renovation and expansion of the existing at 555 Main St.

The property, according to planning board chairman Wright Dickinson, is located in a “B Zoning District and is overlaid by flood plain, watershed protection and aquifer zone district.”

Here’s a closer look at the proposed renovation and expansion of the current CVS building, which includes the installation of a dual drive-thru:

The Plan

Phil Henry, civil engineer of RJ O’Connell & Associates, presented the site plan to the Medfield Planning Board at Monday’s public hearing at Town Hall, providing a basic idea of what the project will consist of.

“The plan is to acquire the and add a dual drive-thru,” Henry said. “Essentially what we are doing is acquiring the sub shop so the entire structure, the 10,800 square foot structure will be solely operated under CVS. The dual drive-thru, located on the back would be an add-on. Along with the drive-thru, we attend to rip up the existing asphalt, repave and re-layout the striping area [parking] more efficiently. In doing so, there were some areas where we could improve some landscaping, as well as some stonework. We’ve met all the stonework management regulations locally and statewide. The proposal shows an upgrade to landscaping areas in front and back of the site.”

Paul Beck, site developer from Gershman Brown Crowley Inc., said the site work proposed at the Medfield location is similar to that of the CVS in Walpole.

“In Walpole, for what it’s worth, is very [similar] to Medfield,” Beck said. “It was an existing store, existing building, former supermarket and did not have a drive-thru. CVS expanded to take the whole building, added the drive-thru and it has worked pretty well. [It is located on] Route 1A and Route 27, it is worth taking a look at.”

Installation of Drive-Thru

A focal point of the pharmacy’s expansion is the installation of a dual drive-thru that will occupy the rear of the building, towards the back of where D’Angelo is currently located. Traffic flow of the drive-thru has patrons entering along the east side of the building with two lanes.

“The inside drive-thru lane is via window and the outside drive-thru lane is similar to how the bank operates [with a tube],” Henry said. “The outside drive-thru lane, which is a harder maneuver, still makes the turn.”

Henry described the software he used to study vehicular movement along the drive-thru as “conservative” and said the software chose a 2008 Dodge Ram truck, which is 19.5 feet long.

“That [size] vehicle is able to make that turn from the inside lane,” Henry said.

The drive-thru can only be used for prescription-related transactions, according to Henry, which will limit delays or traffic backup at the site.

“You can’t order a soda or a newspaper,” Henry said. “It’s just drug-related items.”

Board members expressed concern that a drive-thru that only holds two cars per lane before backing up can create traffic problems in a highly congested area of town. Henry disagreed.

“It’s important to note that we are not in a Dunkin’ Donuts type setting where you could be waiting two to three minutes, five minutes,” Henry said. “A lot of [transactions] are either dropping off or picking up and there’s minimal conversation [involved].”

Beck elaborated on Henry’s response.

“[Cars drive through] about every three or four minutes,” Beck said. “It’s not like 7:30 a.m. at a Dunkin’ Donuts where it is a constant flow. For most people now, prescriptions are electronically delivered to CVS. The delay would be paying for it or as you would walk into the store, a consultation with the pharmacist on how to use this medicine.”

Jason Adams, a traffic engineer who studied traffic flow of the site, explained the average wait time in a CVS drive-thru is “two to two and a half minutes,” with the longest wait time observed being five minutes.

“From our observation at the CVS in Millis, which has a dual drive-thru, the maximum queuing we observed was two vehicles in addition to the two cars being serviced,” Adams said. “That was during a two-hour viewing in the afternoon and a two-hour viewing on Saturday. We also looked at the site in Walpole, which had two instances where there was a third car queued. So in our eight hours of counting, only two times there was that third car that could become slightly problematic [at the Medfield site]. The Millis site didn’t have a single instance of that third car. This site should be able to service the four cars that could be there.”

Dickinson pointed out the entrance to the drive-thru is in line with the entrance and exit to the site off of Route 27 and wanted to know how traffic congestion will be controlled.

“At the outside lane, you travel and make the u-turn, which will be under stop sign control,” Henry said. If traffic flowed counter clockwise, the drive-thru window would be on the passenger side of the vehicle.”

Beck explained while other parts of the store will be open while site work is going on, including the pharmacy, which will never be closed, the drive-thru feature will not be used until the store is completely ready to re-open.

Entrance and Exit of Site

Henry said part of the proposal is to consolidate the entrance and exit points of the site into one entrance and exit off Route 27.

“[We want to] consolidate the two drive-throughs [entrance and exit points] on Route 27 into one drive-through,” Henry said. “In doing so, we propose a full-access drive-through on Route 27. As it is, we will keep the existing access onto Route 109 [Main Street].”

The new full-access driveway would be positioned somewhere in between the two driveways currently on Route 27.

“The access drive closest to the Route 109 intersection will be completely closed and the other access, closest to the building, will be moved approximately 10-feet closer to Route 109 from its current spot on Route 27,” Henry said.

The removal of D’Angelo Sandwich Shop will also reduce traffic volume on the site, according to Henry.

“CVS does not get the same peak traffic as a sub shop would,” he said.

Parking

The CVS parking lot has 73 spaces, according to Henry and that includes shared spaces with and D’Angelo Sandwiches. As part of the site renovation, parking will be better utilized.

“There [will be] an eight-foot sidewalk between the front door and the parking so the parking is not right up against the building,” Henry said. “It is an improvement over what is out there today. I think you will agree right now this is just a sea of asphalt and we are providing some direction via the curb and landscaping. Not to mention, the 5,000 square feet of landscape at the corner, which will go very well across the street with Baxter Park.”

Interior Renovation and Site Work

Beck said interior renovations will be performed in the space currently occupied by D’Angelo Sandwich Shop and the pharmacy will be moved to the rear of the building where the drive-thru will be located.

“The pharmacy is going to be upgraded,” Beck said. “The store will not be closed. Existing customers will be able to pick up their prescriptions there. The pharmacy will never be out of business. That’s strictly for the customers. They will gerrymander around the front of the store, the cosmetics, dry goods and that kind of stuff will be closed at some point in time but the store will be opened.”

Henry added they will work closely with the contractor to ensure other businesses are not affected.

“The site work will be phased,” Henry said. “We will work closely with the contractor to make sure all the existing businesses remain open and operational. It’s not uncommon, like what we did in Walpole. We do this all the time in terms of renovations or expansion.”

Landscaping and Ascetic Appeal

Town Historian of the site to better fit the area the building occupies and tie-in with Baxter Park. On Monday, such improvements were discussed.

“We will present something that drastically upgrades what you see there now,” Beck said. “In fact we were going to do it [Monday] but CVS’ internal architectural department said ‘no, we don’t like this, we want you to do this.’ It will not be a modern, art deco type building. It will be colonial features, similar to what you see across the street [at Baxter Park]. We are more than open to discussion.”

As far as landscaping, Henry said they are proposing to add approximately 250 new plantings, 25 of which are trees.

“The remaining will be low-lining shrubs and that will be presented along with our site triangles at the next meeting,” Henry said.

The public hearing will be continued to the Planning Board’s next meeting, which will be held on Monday, Nov. 7 at Town Hall.