New pharmacy gets thumbs up from city
Simi will have its first Walgreens
By Darleen Principe darleen@theacorn.com

The City Council unanimously approved a project this week to build Simi Valley's first Walgreens pharmacy in the Freeway Center on the northwest corner of Sycamore Drive and Cochran Street.

The project, proposed by Evergreen Devco Inc., calls for demolishing an older building that once housed an optometrist's office in the shopping center and replacing it with a 10,000square-foot pharmacy with a drive-thru.

Councilmember Glen Becerra said he's confident the new building will set a "very high standard" for redevelopment in the surrounding area and encourage owners of neighboring centers to revamp older buildings.

"It will stick out like a sore thumb out there," Becerra said. "But it will be a very positive sore thumb."

Last month, the Simi Valley Planning Commission voted 41 to recommend the project for approval. Commissioner Mike McGuigan was the sole dissenter, citing concerns about potential traffic and the length of the drive-thru.

As part of the proposal, Evergreen requested a reduction of the vehicle stacking distance- length of the drive-thru- from 150 feet to 85 feet, based on their studies that the proposed distance would be able to accommodate vehicles "99 percent of the time."

Along with the project approval on Monday night, the City Council introduced a zoning ordinance amending city building codes to allow pharmacy drive-thru lanes to be shorter than other types of drivethrus.

"The stacking issue doesn't concern me at all," Becerra said. "I drive by CVS (pharmacy) on a daily basis, and I don't ever remember seeing more than one car in that drive-thru at any time. I'm glad staff is looking at doing a new standard for this."

According to Kayman Wong, Evergreen representative, the new Walgreens will bring about 40 full- and part-time jobs to the community and will contribute $300,000 in sales tax to the city after its first three years of operation.

The new pharmacy will be open 24 hours at 2417 Sycamore Drive, near Millie's Restaurant, Big Lots and Do-it Center.