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Will Squander an Opportunity

So CVS wants to move from its current 8,800 square foot building in Clinton and build a 13,225 square foot building at Hull and Main Streets. The site plan application sacrifices the primary reason for the move: a drive-up window for pharmacy customer convenience.

Who wins from this proposal? Certainly not Clinton. The increase in square footage will add little to Clinton’s tax base. It will leave behind yet another empty storefront in Clinton’s struggling downtown. It will squander an opportunity for dynamic, transit-oriented development that is envisioned in Clinton’s Plan of Conservation and Development in this prime location next to what will soon be a new and improved train station.

Everybody loses on this except the owners of the property on this corner, and one could argue that if they were more patient they could harvest even bigger capital gains on a property sale by waiting for a new train station and transit-oriented zoning, but one in the hand is very tempting.

There are ample site-plan regulation violations, design violations, and safety and drainage issues for the Planning & Zoning Commission (PZC) to defend a decision to deny this application in court, but the former PZC chairman, Gary Bousquet, has employed many strategies to thwart the PZC’s authority, to limit its legal options and to force its members to vote against their own best judgments. The Board of Selectmen threatens to starve PZC’s legal budget to defend its decision in court. The brutality of these local political maneuvers is blatant and disgraceful.

Almost all of Clinton’s PZC members are faithful to the best interests of the community. It takes courage to defy one or two who act out personal agendas at the expense of the public good. May the good prevail at the PZC meeting Monday, Feb. 13.

Cameron Vickers

Clinton