Walgreens

Le Roy's town Code Enforcement Department has reached a tipping point with the local Walgreens’ lack of lawn maintenance.  

At Thursday’s Town Board Meeting, members discussed the issue of maintenance and how cases -- including the chain drugstore -- have been on the rise.

“Code Enforcement has been busy,” Town Supervisor James Farnholz said. “We have received many complaints about the grass at Walgreens. That did get mowed— and they were cited.” 

He went on to detail the department's intervention process.

“We gave them a verbal warning; they did nothing,” said Farnholz. “We then wrote them up as a violation. They had 48 hours to mow it themselves, and when they didn’t do it, we sent an independent contractor to mow it.”

Town Clerk Patricia Canfield noted the increasing abundance of mowing cases. 

“We’ve had to start doing it in the town," she said. "But in all the years I’ve been here, we haven’t had to pay someone to mow.”

Considering future cases, particularly at the Walgreens property, the board agreed to prioritize maintenance. 

“We’ll do it again, if it gets to the point where it’s an issue,” Farnholz said.

The board also discussed seting up Internet and a video camera as an extra security and safety measure at the pool. The board is expected to discuss this further at future meetings.

The town board's next meeting is at 7 p.m. June 23 at the Le Roy Town Hall Building, 48 Main St.

The Walgreens in Le Roy is now open, as we learned from a glowing piece of PR published in the Batavia Daily News.

The problem of its construction, which as is downright hostile to other businesses in the village with its parking lot and fence in front of the building, is, of course, still a problem.

And it was a problem the Le Roy Planning Board recognized back in August 2007, according to an article in the Daily News archives:

Planning Board member Jerry McCullough said he would like to see a design consistent with a small-town Main Street look, including having the store closer to the sidewalk and all the parking either behind the building or to one side and the rear.

Planning Board Chairman Robert Dawley agreed. He would like Walgreens to design a store similar to the way the Village Hall sits on its parcel, with green space between the sidewalk and building and its front setback consistent with nearby properties.

"I think it would be visually more pleasing to the community," he said. The traditional downtown look would also provide better sight lines for drivers approaching the traffic light at routes 5 and 19, he said.

I remember being told a year ago that the building would fit into the village.  I wonder whatever happened to that plan?

Meanwhile, the building is already up for sale. Asking price: $5.1 million.