Village of Homer Planning Board Greenlights Future Specialty Grocery Store

During Wednesday’s Village of Homer Planning Board meeting, the board voted to approve an application for a change of use at 6 North West Street from commercial to mercantile. The applicant, Jennah Compagni, says she plans to open up a specialty grocery store within the small plaza at the corner of Route 281 and James Street in the village.

Ms. Compagni was present during Wednesday’s meeting; the board previously tabled the application during their March meeting due to Campagni not present to answer questions from the board. 

She gave a brief overview of the planned store, which would be an Italian and Mexican grocery store. Ms. Compagni noted though that it would be a small sized store and more similar to a bodega. Products in the store would be 60% of imported goods and 40% of local products. The space where the store would be going in would not see any structural or design changes except for fresh paint, and new shelving. 

Traffic wise, the parking lot of the small plaza has about 20 spaces with an anticipation of about two spaces being used at a time by customers as they will be going in and out of the store. A sign small (non-lit) will be fixed to already existing mountings on the building. Its size will be 2 feet by 8 feet.

Planning Board Member Paula Harrington asked about trash and if there would be a dumpster added to the property. Ms. Compagni said the property currently has a private waste-removal service and a dumpster will not be added to the property. She also added the meat and produce products offered will be in small quantities with only frozen meats available for purchase.

The application had been previously submitted to the Cortland County Planning Department, who referred it back to the village citing it did not need a full county planning review. The property is currently permitted for commercial use. The property had previously been allowed for mercantile use.

In regards to the Environmental Assessment Form, which lead to the board ultimately tabling any action for the application last month, Ms. Compagni noted that she is not the property owner and wasn’t sure what they were requesting information wise. Compagni says her plans are to just use the building “as is.” It was later determined that it was a type 2 SEQR, which indicates the action does not significantly impact the environment. 

With no further questions, the board unanimously approved the application for the change of use to allow the new store. When asked, Ms. Compagni says they plan to begin work cleaning, painting, and adding shelving next month with hopes to open the store by June.

*Feature image via Google*