Front & Division's Fate: A New CVS

by Samantha Tengelitsch

The long-abandoned northeast corner of Front and Division streets is about to become home to a new CVS Pharmacy.

Despite some public opposition, TC City Commissioners last night voted unanimously to rezone the corner from a C-2 Neighborhood Center to a C-3 Community Center District, allowing for the construction of a CVS Pharmacy with drive-thru window.

Deciding the future of the corner – which has housed a variety of gas stations, most recently a Union 76 station – has been made more complex due to a gas-contamination plume in the soil.

Mayor Estes said concerns over the environmental hazard and clean-up, as well as the CVS developer’s willingness to cooperate with architectural and design changes to meet requirements set forth by the planning commission, were reasons for moving forward with the rezoning, “The city can’t afford to buy this property and do what it wants to,” he said. “The city doesn’t have the dollars to clean up the property.”

Tax money captured from the CVS development will partially fund clean-up efforts at the site.

Traverse City resident Karen Segal said the CVS issue is part of a bigger discussion that the TC City Commission urgently needs to address: Division Street traffic and safety. She said the congestion from traffic trying to move in and out of the pharmacy would only contribute to a greater number of automobile related accidents at the intersection.

“From our perspective, it looks like a beautiful development; it deserves to be someplace else,” she said.

TC Resident Pat McGuire agrees Division Street is a problem, but he called the Front Street corner an eyesore; and said he supports the project moving forward.

TC City Commissioner Jeanine Easterday cited environmental concerns and the creation of new jobs as her reasons for moving forward with the rezoning. “I believe that this development has enough of the positive aspects and the additional advantage of cleaning up one of the most contaminated areas in our city,” she said.

Following comment on the Front Street rezoning, the commission voted unanimously to adopt a resolution to support finding a solution to Division Street Traffic problems.

Mayor Estes called that resolution the first step in a cooperative effort between all involved parties to reduce traffic-related problems with Division Street. On March 2, he plans to meet with Michigan Governor Rick Snyder and MDOT Transportation Director Kirk Steudle to discuss the issue.

“We’re absolutely serious about doing something,” he says. “We’ll go the extra mile to make changes if necessary so that we can come up with a solution for Division Street – before all of us meet our maker.”