New Arnold CVS Draws Residents' Concerns

A community meeting for drew a standing-room only crowd on Wednesday.

The business would be built at 1500 Ritchie Highway, where the is currently located.

The developer for the CVS proposal, JC BAR Properties Inc., said the Furniture Solution's 30,000-square-foot building would be demolished, and a 13,200-square-foot CVS would be built in its place.

The developers also plan to add trees and shrubbery to the parking lot and surroundings, and move the entrance on Arnold Road back a few feet to help ease traffic congestion in the area.

But that wasn't enough to assuage the concerns of most people in the audience.

"A lot of people get trapped coming out of Arnold Station trying to turn left," said Elizabeth Rosborg, president of the .

Carl Wilson, a traffic engineer, said they had studied the intersection of Arnold Road and Ritchie Highway, and considered it to be operating at "an acceptable level of service," which was greeted by laughter and jeers from those in attendance.

Residents argued that CVS could help the traffic congestion problem by opening up an additional lane on Arnold Road, cutting into the property slightly.

"At a minimum, that has to change," said Jim Scott in reference to Arnold Road's congestion problems. "I don't know how we get by now."

Developers said they would listen to residents' concerns about how the building looks, but the ultimate decision of whether to build is up to CVS.

"We don't want to ram anything down anybody's throat," said Dan Wallace, a representative of JC BAR.

Wallace said they were currently 16 months away from getting a shovel in the ground on the project, and construction would take about six months.

The developers are preparing to submit their preliminary plans for the site to the county's Planning and Zoning Department. After that, there will be another community meeting scheduled before the final site plan submission, several months from now.

More details on the site will be made available at that meeting, Wallace said.

Written concerns and comments should be directed to the county's Planning and Zoning Department.