Proposed Lincoln Boulevard Walgreens Raises Concerns

By Ann K. Williams
Lookout Staff

June 9, 2011 – Developers are hoping to build a Walgreens at the southeast corner of Pico and Lincoln Boulevards, and not everyone is happy about it.

Residents have voiced concerns about the draft Environmental Impact Report's (EIR's) prediction of increased traffic on the side streets surrounding the store and Santa Monica police are none too pleased by the store's proposal to sell alcohol.

The Walgreens as planned will be a one-story structure with a basement, taking up more than 12,000 square feet all told. The building will be on the corner of Lincoln and Pico Boulevards, and a surface parking lot of similar size will be built directly to its south. The entire project will be bounded by Lincoln Boulevard and the alley Lincoln Court, and by Pico Boulevard and Bay Street.

Buildings housing a half dozen small businesses on the southeast corner of Lincoln and Pico boulevards will be demolished to make way for a new Walgreens. (Photo by Gene Williams)

The draft EIR underestimates the increase in traffic through residential streets around the proposed store, according to resident Wendy Walwyn.

Walwyn told the Lookout that the original design provided for entrances and exits to the store's surface parking lot from Lincoln Boulevard but city planners made the developer move them to the alley in the back.

“The building has been designed so all ingress and egress is from the alleyway, Lincoln Court,” said Walwyn. “We have done the traffic models and can show how traffic, like water, will take the path of easiest resistance, and flow through quieter residential streets.”

Even the traffic consultants who prepared estimates for the draft EIR say there will be a “significant and unavoidable” impact.

“All of this presumes a dramatic increase in Lincoln Court traffic,” said resident Brian C. Moss. “Why doesn't the impact study specifically address that added traffic on Lincoln Court? Because it is not 'real' street? Then perhaps no one should be suggesting that it be burdened with this much traffic.”

The Walgreens will also detract from the neighborhood if it's allowed to sell alcohol, Walwyn added. The Santa Monica Police Department agrees.

The department's vice and narcotics unit has spoken with the planning department about its concerns, Sergeant Richard Lewis told the Lookout Wednesday.

“It's right next to a high school,” for one thing, Lewis said.

“We already have issues on an adjoining corner. It gives one more location for chronic inebriates to go and get alcohol,” he said. “It puts more of that element in the area of the school.”

Police fear a rise in thefts and beer-runs if the store is given license to sell alcohol, Lewis said.

And both Walwyn and Moss pointed out that the recovery center CLARE is just up the block, making round the clock alcohol sales on the corner a temptation to the non-profit's clients.

Walwyn is optimistic that changes can be made to make the project more palatable to its critics.

“Is this yet another example of development vs. quality of life of its residents? We think so,” said Walwyn. “But can we find a workable situation? Yes. Turn the building around to put traffic into Lincoln like all other corners of this intersection, make it smaller and do not sell alcohol.”

The draft EIR does offer alternatives to the existing proposal.

First, no development could be allowed, and the corner could stay the same as it is now.

A second alternative, the “60 per cent reduced project” would see a smaller store, generating 300 fewer daily automobile trips.

The third possibility is a mixed use building which would generate more daily trips than the “60 per cent reduced project,” but would provide seven units of senior housing at the site. Planners say this alternative “more fully reflect(s) the project site's designation in the City of Santa Monica's Land Use and Circulation Element (LUCE).”

The public has a few more days to submit comments to the draft EIR. The window for doing so ends June 13. Planners will then compose responses to those comments, and compile a final EIR. That will be presented to the Planning Commission for public hearing, probably before the end of summer, city staff say.

If the Planning Commission's decision isn't appealed, the Architectural Review Board will be the next stop on the project's way toward completion. Construction may begin in mid-2012, if all goes on schedule.

In the meantime, those who wish to submit comments on the draft EIR can send them to City Planner Lily Yegazu at Lily.Yegazu@smgov.net