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.

I didn’t get a chance to go to that meeting last night about Sheridan Village. But in talking about it with some friends, it made me wonder why another big box grocery store is opening up in that part of town. You have Kroger right across the street in Evergreen Square. And you have Schnuck’s just up the road at Glen and University. Isn’t it inevitable that one of the existing stores will close? Meanwhile, South Peoria has almost no grocery service at all.

I thought I’d check out some recent supermarket history, and culled the following timeline from Journal Star articles (closures in bold):

• Early 1994 — Cub Foods opens at Glen Hollow Shopping Center.
• Nov. 1996 — New Kroger (54,000-60,000 square feet reported) opens in Evergreen Square — replaces old, 27,000-square-foot Kroger in Evergreen Square.
• 9/16/1998 — Super Wal-Mart opens on East Peoria riverfront.
• 11/9/1999 — Schnuck’s (reportedly 87,000 square feet) opens at Glen and University. They tried for years to build a store at Glen and Sheridan, but were pushed back by neighbors and environmentalists. One of the big arguments against that site: it’s right across the street from another established grocery store, Ben Schwartz.
• 12/31/1999 — Ben Schwartz, Sheridan and Glen, closes.
• 3/2/2000 — Eagle Country Markets, 1401 W. Glen, closes (Chapter 11 bankruptcy)
• 8/12/2002 — Cub Foods (65,000 square feet) opens at Midtown Plaza on Knoxville. Developer David Joseph got $5.5 million in city incentives for this project and eminent domain power to wrest away little old ladies’ homes on Dechman. This project was going to “revitalize the East Bluff.”
• 9/25/2002 — John Bee Food Shop, 3419 N. Prospect Road, closes, citing big box grocery store competition. “‘When the first Cub store opened, things started turning downhill for independents; it became a trickle down effect,’ he [owner John Barnhart] said. ‘We did manage to survive them, but then came Schnuck’s. And the SuperWalMart came in and it was a big kick in the head.'”
• 11/15/2002 — Sullivan’s (formerly Thompson Food Basket) on Knoxville and in Campustown both close.

Now Hy-Vee is coming to Sheridan Village, right across the street from another supermarket. How does this serve the needs of the people in the immediate area or Peorians in general?

If you’re interested in the future of Sheridan Village, a trustworthy source has informed me that there’s a meeting at Fashion Bug tonight at 7:00 p.m. to discuss it. I’m told a representative of the Emmes Group will be there (they’re the ones who own Sheridan Village) along with representatives from the city and Hy-Vee, and of course surrounding neighbors and other interested parties. However, I’m told the press will not be allowed to attend. I’m not sure if neighbors will be allowed to voice their concerns or if this is just an informational meeting.