May 26, 2012
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Reporter: Jaime McCutcheon Email

CVS Gets the Go the Second Time Around

After voting it down the first time, the Omaha City Council gave the go ahead Tuesday to a CVS Pharmacy at 49th and Dodge. The second vote was due to a reconsideration motion.

It was another Omaha City Council meeting Tuesday with yet another debate over the corner at 49th and Dodge. A proposed CVS Pharmacy there has brought a lot of debate and a lot of anger from some neighbors. There was even a protest by neighbors there last week.

"I'm not that interested in additional elevated lighting that would be light pollution and traffic on Capitol street from the proposed entrance on the north side that would put traffic directly onto my block," explains Eric Williams, who lives in the area.

It's all continued debate in the council chambers which neighbors believe should not be. After all, the council voted down the CVS Pharmacy three weeks ago. Then councilman Ben Gray changed his mind.

"I cannot afford to not look at any opportunity to bring about economic development for this city in general and specifically in North Omaha,” Gray said at the council meeting.

Larry Jobeun, the attorney representing CVS, said "we're just grateful that he thought enough about this project and about the overall policy, and what it means to the city of Omaha to reconsider this."

That brings us to Tuesday and the council’s do-over vote. Those council members voting against the CVS Pharmacy Tuesday were Chris Jerram, Pete Festersen and Thomas Mulligan. With Ben Gray changing his vote to a yes, CVS gets the OK.

"Extremely disappointed. It's very frustrating that people that don't even live in the Dundee area are the ones making this decision,” said Jenny Allgood, who lives near the site.

One of the big decisions will be what will the store in this neighborhood look like? Neighbors worry it won't fit in with the historic feel of Dundee.

Jobeun says, "this isn't the Dundee on Underwood, this is the Dundee on Dodge and the Dodge Street Corridor, so we believe that a lot has gone into the development, the elevations, the site plan."

There are early plans for what the store will look like, although they are not finalized.

Another thing brought up at the council meeting, whether CVS will request TIF money to help with the construction of this store. TIF is tax increment financing, which is money given by the government against future property tax revenues that will be generated by the new construction. CVS representatives say it has not been decided whether TIF money will be requested for this store.


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