Walgreens & The Importance of Urban Guidelines
Why the uproar over plans for a multi-million dollar investment in the city by Walgreens even before plans are unveiled? Strip away the soulless conglomerate vs. small business argument, forget the dubious need for yet another drug store, and also ignore the firmis stupidity in picking a site that requires the demolition of existing, occupied structures. From a planning and urban design standpoint, we can expect Walgreens to propose an uninspired, ugly store that is unique to no place, be it a rural town or urban neighborhood. You can expect them to be indifferent to local identity and interests. It isnit in Walgreensi nature to be urban-friendly and the City doesnit have a good track record of demanding excellent design. That is reason enough to start objecting early.
Big-box retail poses challenges to city commercial districts. Their standardized facades, reliance on auto-borne shoppers, large parking lots, lack of community or pedestrian amenities, and placement on the lot typically have negative impacts on the physical character of a community. With blank, windowless facades, flat roofs, lack of architectural detail, drive-through windows, and miniscule hard-to-find entryways, big box stores are boring at best and blighting at worst.
Donit expect a well-detailed, humanly scaled building from Walgreens or most other national chains. They want a plain one-floor rectangle following a standard design formula. It is the worst of the suburbs crammed into a city location. The parking lots that surround these stores are oftentimes several times the size of the store itself. Freestanding chain drugstores operated by Walgreens, Rite Aid, and Eckerd are generally 11,000-15,000 square feet--much larger than your typical neighborhood store. But they are here and more will be proposed. Whether it is successful infill development depends on how it is integrated into its environment. Past history doesnit leave us with much hope.
For communities that are unaware of their options or feel they have little leverage in negotiating with these retailing giants, the results can be plain vanilla. They are rectangular boxes of industrial quality construction coated with corporate color schemes and surrounded by parking with nary a bush or tree in sight. However there are a growing number of jurisdictions that are rejecting the box by requiring a higher level of architectural treatment and taking steps to ensure that the stores relate better to their environs and neighbors. In passing a big box ordinance, Buffalo would join cities around the country that have tried to regulate such development to alleviate some of these negative impacts.
Dozens of communities, recognizing that their local economies can absorb only so much new retail without causing numerous existing businesses to close, have enacted zoning rules that prohibit stores over a certain size. Store size caps help to sustain the vitality of small-scale, pedestrian-oriented business districts, which in turn nurture local business development. Like all zoning laws, size caps can apply to the entire city or just to a particular neighborhood. In Buffalo, there are store size restrictions on certain portions of Elmwood Avenue. East Aurora has adopted a store size cap to keep big box retailers from building in the quaint community and has also banned drive-through windows on Main Street.
Other communities are enacting design guidelines. The guidelines lay the ground rules up front for landscaping, parking requirements, building materials, design, color, lighting, seating, pedestrian amenities, buffering, and the scale of development. The main goal is to encourage development that contributes to the community as a unique place by reflecting its physical character and adding to it in appropriate ways. Elmwood Avenue has design guidelines. Many others need them.
Without rules, developers are under no obligation to offer anything but their standard architectural formats. Residents are relentlessly on the defensive since there are no quarantees of appropriate design and development. For too long, planning and design has been an afterthought in the city. Weive been paying the price for quite sometime. Remember the McDonaldis across from Sheas Buffalo Theater? How can that happen? Because for many years, any development was good. Today, an enlightened public is demanding more. We recognize that communities that protect their distinctive character and maintain one-of-a-kind businesses are more interesting places to live and visit. No matter what design they propose, Walgreens just may not be a good fit.
Up Next: One Recent Success-Defeat of the Elmwood/Bryant Rite Aid.
Photo Courtesy of Cyburbia.
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BuffaloRox
WCP,
Excellent post. Walgreens is just an example of big box stores moving into the city. This kind of planning needs to be put in place so that knee jerk activism isn't necessary. I believe Buffalo's award winning urban planning only applies to downtown (I could be wrong). This planning process apparently needs to be expanded upon. Such planning would benefit residents, property owners, developers and businesses if it lays out a clear and well-thought out set of ground rules.
BR
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civis urbs
The City if Buffalo's APA award winning plan, The Queen City Hub, is strictly for downtown and to my knowledge has not been officially adopted by the city although it keeps getting touted as a great tool towards revitalization. In addition to this plan for downtown the city implemented the Good Neighbors Planning Alliance to much fanfare. This process was to inititate a citizen driven planning process that would create a comprehensive plan for the city. After several years of work by communities to develop there plans they still have not been adopted and put into law; same as the Queen City Hub. In fact, the North Buffalo GNPA has faced some blows to their plan in the development of the North Buffalo Greenway and the subsequent selling of the rail right of way to private interests by the NFTA.
Forever Elmwood's design guidelines are also a good start but again nothing holds the feet of a developer to the fire making them adhere to the guidlines. With all this work and citizen involvement into a flawed process of reactionary democaracy instead of participatory we can only continue to act in the way we have continued to do so. It is hopeful that these planning processes and design guidelines are taken seriously and adopted by our new administration.
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bman
Excellent post. Walgreens cannot win this one. Its such a no-brainer that any public official touting this as development would be run out of office on a rail. And I know of nobody in the private sector that would support this. I fear the building owners might be seduced into a good price for their land then the project gets some foot hold. Are there no incentives to keep those business insured against such a move by Walgreens such as a facade improvement program or a low-cost loan or grant? Not that the block needs it but often when attention is brought to an urban area at risk the timing is right for a little embellishment.
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newtobuffalo
No matter what design they propose, Walgreens just may not be a good fit.
In my mind, this is a dumb position. I live just down the street from the proposed location, and I do almost all of my daily-life stuff on foot. Shop at the co-op, entertain and feed myself within walking distance, etc... I only drive to work, when I'm headed out of town, and occassionally to Target. One major service that I'm lacking is a proper drug store. Rite Aid is dank, obsolescent, unpleasant - I try to avoid it.
There's room for a new pharmacy. Other than Rite Aid, there's none reachable on foot in this area. It won't steal business from anyone other than Rite Aid or other pharmacies in driving distance. And no one is going to set up an independent drug store in this day and age.
We should stick up for planning principles, abolutely. But to have the attitude that there's probably no good solution for Walgreens is counter-productive. There's lots and lots and lots of barren real-estate in this district that would be a good fit. God - even a Walgreens with a parking lot would be better than an eyesore like the gas station at Delavan and Elmwood.
One has to decide if the Elmwood area should grow towards 1) a weekend entertainment and shopping district devoid of everyday life or 2) a full-service living district. I vote the latter. As it is, it barely makes it. Without the co-op (thank god for the co-op) it wouldn't cut it.
Most of the new business of late have been boutique-type retailers that appeal to passers-by less than neighborhood folk. Abraham's Jewelers (for instance) looks lovely... But it's not something I need on a daily basis. They're not sexy, but pharmacies, dry cleaners, cheapish restaurants, coffee houses, hardware stores are the stuff of life.
Where I used to live - Brooklyn - had a ton of pharmacies too and new ones opening nearly every day. They are a sign of prosperity - and a sign that people actually live in the area.
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Pleaze!
newtobuffalo, have fun living in suburbia. You do know that they want to tear down the whole block when all you have to do is walk 8 blocks at the corner of North and Delaware to get to another Walgreens. When I lived in NY an 8 block walk was nothing. You even have a Rite Aid at your beckon call if your feeling REALLY lazy. Is that why you moved to Buffalo? A sign of prosperity? What the %$@# are you smoking?
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newtobuffalo
Pleaze,
8 blocks in Buffalo aren't 8 blocks in NYC. Walking from Gates Circle to North just isn't a viable option when it comes to picking up a bottle of tylenol or some manilla envelopes. Yes, I do go to Rite Aid. But not happily. It's an awful store. I suspect that lots of people in the nabe drive somewhere else for their pharmacy needs.
I absolutely agree that principles of good design should be enforced. I just feel that this attitude -
No matter what design they propose, Walgreens just may not be a good fit.
- is extremely counterproductive.
Take a look over at the more productive discussion over at Buffalo Pundit: http://tinyurl.com/a4aqy. See, in particular, the first comment from the Syracuse resident....
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Cynthia Hammond
Gee whiz, NewtoBuffalo, you are actually making me feel a bit defensive about Rite Aid. Granted, the building is a bit of a woofer, but I had no idea it was dank, obsolescent and unpleasant. Maybe I should raise my expectations, or just pop a prozac before my next visit.
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dcoffee
There is good reason for Walgreens to want this Delaware location, they know that with all the residents and the hospitals and etc. a clean all purpose convenience/drugstore would do quite well. Walgreens isnit the problem, itis how they design their buildings. In a walkable urban neighborhood like this your typical Walgreens simply doesnit fit.
If newtobuffalo's posts are any indication, the neighborhood could use a store with the type of products that Walgreens sells, and the existing Rite-Aid could benefit from some competition. Walgreens or something similar would come to the neighborhood regardless of zoning guidelines because they know that they would make a killing. We need a set of urban zoning restrictions to keep this area unique, and prevent them from building another cookie cutter box store with a wrap around parking lot.
I sincerely agree with newtobuffalo that Elmwood should be striving toward "a full-service living district." I currently live in Allentown which truly that, part of the reason I live here instead of further north on Elmwood is because it is ia full service living districti. Part of the reason the area is so livable is because of places like Walgreens and Latinais Foodland, which provide those every day things that residents need. Unfortunately these same stores have large prohibitive parking lots and most of their customers are on foot. Cutting across wide-open parking lots to get my stuff is annoying and dangerous, and the open blacktop/car-hood landscape diminishes the character and uniqueness of the area. The buildings should have been built differently in the first place because they never fit in. We need better neighborhood zoning guidelines to prevent these buildings from being built in the future.
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