ALGONQUIN – The Algonquin Meijer, 400 S. Randall Road, is seeking a special use permit to create a drive-thru for its pharmacy.
Plans call for a pharmacy window on the front of the south end of the building, and transactions with customers would take place through a conveyor and speaker system, Algonquin Senior Planner Katie Parkhurst said.
An extension of the existing canopy would be added to cover the machines, Parkhurst said.
The existing sidewalk in front of the store and garden center would remain in place and be separated by the pharmacy drive-thru by a decorative fence 42 inches tall, according to plans.
The drive-thru lane will be separated from the main drive aisle that runs in front of Meijer by a landscaped island 15 feet wide, Parkhurst said, and the two-way traffic in front of the store would remain by shifting the existing aisle and landscaped islands to the east.
Traffic in the drive-thru lane would flow north.
Some trustees voiced safety concerns of the new design and questioned whether someone turning out of the pharmacy lane would have enough visibility.
There would be no right turn out of the pharmacy drive-thru, plans show.
“The landscape island that they’re going to put in to designate the drive-thru aisle from the north-south frontage road is at least 15 feet wide, which is basically the length of a car,” Parkhurst said. “So people really can turn and be perpendicular, to a T, to have better visibility there.”
Matt Levitt, manager of property sales with Meijer Real Estate, said a similar design is used at about 20 other stores, and it hasn’t presented any problems with pedestrian safety.
“If there were safety concerns with this design, we would not use it,” Levitt said.
The project was brought before the Algonquin Committee of the Whole at its April 25 meeting, and then again at its meeting Tuesday after trustees requested more information.
On Tuesday, trustees agreed to put the item on the agenda for the next Village Board meeting for approval.
The Village Board meeting will be at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Ganek Municipal Center, 2200 Harnish Drive, Algonquin.