By Jondi Gumz
Boos Development West of Florida has the OK to build a 24-hour CVS pharmacy with a drive-through window on property across from Dominican Hospital.
Decor Furniture, at 1515 Commercial Way in Santa Cruz, will have to find a new location now that the county has approved a drive-through CVS pharmacy at this site. • Photo Credit: Jondi Gumz
The Santa Cruz County zoning administrator approved the project Aug. 14.
The CVS site is 1505 and 1515 Commercial Way, combining two lots, one where Decor Furniture operates next door to Redo Consign, which is not a part of the development site.
To build the 13,111-square-foot pharmacy, existing buildings on the site will be demolished and a stormwater system will be installed.
Aptos developer Joe Appenrodt bought the property in 2017 for $2.075 million.
One lot was once a wrecking yard, and the soil contains levels of arsenic and lead considered unsafe and usable as fill.
A lot of excavation and grading is planned — filling 340 dump trucks, with new fill to be brought in. Waste soils are to be trucked to a landfill in Buttonwillow.
Dust control measures will be required for the safety of construction workers and the public.
The county Planning Commission in 2014 interpreted the county code to allow a drive-through use because CVS drive-through use accounts for only 3-4 percent of total store sales, according to the staff report.
The developer asked for permission to have four signs, one more than allowed, which project planner Annette Olson considered reasonable because the site consists of two lots.
Appenrodt said he expects construction to begin in 2021.
Sharon and Albert Cosio are proprietors at Decor Furniture, which has been at 1515 Commercial Way, Santa Cruz, for 20 years. • Photo Credit: Jondi Gumz
At Decor Furniture, owner Albert Cosio said, “We’ve been here 20 years.”
He said he’s not sure where he would go, but there are “a few options.”
After being closed since mid-March due to COVID-19, Decor Furniture reopened June 1.
Sales have been “better than expected,” Cosio said. “The ones that come in are buying.”
At Redo Consign, staffer Ciera Zuker mulled what it will be like to operate next to a construction site.
“We’ll probably keep the doors closed,” she said.