I went to last night’s Zoning Commission meeting; I was late, but in time to hear the Sheridan Village case.

First of all, the placement of the store on the site is better than I had anticipated. It will be connected to the rest of Sheridan Village similar to the current leg. Secondly, I was happy to hear that the huge metal awning-like structures would be removed in the renovation. Thirdly, I was pleased that the site plan review board and city staff had made a number of conditions to improve pedestrian access and the physical look of the building (for example, adding sidewalks along Lake Ave., using the same building materials on all three exposed sides of the building, making the “back” of the store look and possibly function as a front of the store by adding windows and access points, etc.).

However, I do have some reservations. The building is evidently too big for the parcel. They want to put an 89,000-square-foot big-box store where there used to be 30-40,000 square feet of smaller specialty stores. Combined with the outbuildings that have already been built in the northeast parking lot, and the space they need on the west side of the building for truck loading/delivery areas, they will be losing no small amount of parking. It’s a tight fit. And that tight fit is being cited as the reason certain transitional buffer yards and setbacks can’t be met by the developers. This grocery store will be larger than Kroger or Schnuck’s. It looks to me as though they’re trying to put 10 pounds of flour in a five-pound bag.

Also, and this is just my perception, but it appears that Hy-Vee is making very little revision to its cookie-cutter store layout. This store is designed as if it were a standalone, traditionally-sited grocery store with a front, public face, and a back, industrial-like face. Unfortunately, the leg of Sheridan Village that this store will be mostly replacing has parking on both sides of the building, and both the east and west sides face the public. In fact, the design of Sheridan Village is for there to be public access from the east and the west. Because the setting is unique, the design of the store needs to be unique as well, and it doesn’t appear that Hy-Vee is willing to change their planagram.

Finally, I’m concerned about the liquor store. Hy-Vee is planning to have a fairly large liquor section called Hy-Vee Wine & Spirits with what appears to be its own entrance, although it’s attached to the grocery store. But from the outside, based on the artists’ renderings shown last night, it looks like a separate liquor store with separate signage from the grocery store. If you’re walking up the sidewalk from Bergner’s, you would come to the liquor store first, then the grocery store. This doesn’t strike me as blending well with the established family-friendly atmosphere of Sheridan Village. If you consider this element in isolation, I don’t think neighbors would be too thrilled about a standalone liquor store opening in Sheridan Village. Again, I’m not saying that it is a standalone liquor store, only that it appears that way on the outside because of the facade design and signage. I’d also add (only partially tongue-in-cheek) that I’ll be curious to see if the council puts the same restrictions on Hy-Vee as they did on the now-defunct Adams Supermarket (limited square-footage for liquor sales, off-duty police guards, etc.).

The Zoning Commission unanimously approved the zoning request with all of staff’s conditions (and there were several). The owners will now have to file a revised site plan that meets those conditions.