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| By Michelle Symington Staff Writer WEST SPRINGFIELD After remaining vacant for several years, the former Showcase Cinema building, located at 895 Riverdale Street, may soon become the home of a new Raymour and Flanigan store. Representatives from the company shared the plans for the new store during a Planning Board meeting last Wednesday. The City Council recently approved the zone change necessary for the construction of the building, changing it so that Business B is the primary use for the land, according to Rich Sypek, the attorney representing Raymour and Flanigan. Although it has been approved by the City Council, it had not yet been signed by the mayor at the time of the meeting last week. The property that the company hopes to utilize is 5.72 acres and currently houses the 20,000 square foot former movie theater building, which is proposed to be demolished, he added. Raymour and Flanigan, which currently operates a furniture store on Elm Street, is proposing construct a new 71,550 square foot store with an additional 25,000 square feet of retail space. Lucien DiStefano, project manager for Raymour and Flanigan from Bohler Engineering, explained that the site currently includes a "19,000 and change square foot building" and 514 parking spaces. He said that the proposed number of parking spaces for the Raymour and Flanigan project is 527, which is 36 spaces more than what is required. The company plans to increase the landscaping by 5,000 square feet, with multiple landscaped areas throughout the parking lot with 13 shade trees and 52 shrubs, which DiStefano said would bring the site into compliance with landscape regulations. "The current site is an a severe state of disrepair," he said, adding that the plan is to make it look like the rest of the Riverdale Shops plaza. He explained that the plans also include nine 35-foot high, 1,000 watt lighting, which will have zero spill-out to the abutting properties. He added that the storm drains will also be improved as part of the project. According to DiStefano, the plan is to connect to the utilities that already service that site whenever possible. If some of the services cannot be utilized, he said that the plan is to only go into Morgan Road extension and not to dig into Route 5. When the new building is constructed, the plan includes two signs, one facing Riverdale Street and another facing Morgan Road Extension. Richard Werbiskis, West Springfield town planner, said that he is still waiting on reports from the city's Department of Public Works and the Massachusetts Highway Department, which are currently reviewing the plans. He said he hopes to have their reports by this week. Stephen Roberts, co-owner of Daggett Drive, has concerns about the traffic issues surrounding the project and brought a traffic engineer with him to the meeting. However, the traffic engineer for Raymour and Flanigan was not present, so he did not think it would be appropriate to discuss his traffic concerns without the proponents ability to respond to his concerns. The Planning Board continued the public hearing to its Oct. 5 meeting at 7:10. Heather Ward, public relations manager for Raymour and Flanigan, said that she could not answer further questions at this time because the project is still in the planning stages. |