\n\t\t\t\t\t\tAfter being closed for months, the former Rite Aid on Howley Street in Bloomfield may soon have a new purpose. Pittsburgh’s Zoning Board of Adjustment heard a proposal Thursday for a special exception that would allow Walmart to renovate the building for grocery store use. According to company representatives, the space would be used for their last-mile program which is a fulfillment hub for delivery drivers. Several community members opposed the application, calling it misleading and expressing concerns about increased traffic. They argued that the project would turn the site into a warehouse rather than a grocery store. “To have sort of like a nameless distribution center where the locals can’t even shop, to get items that they need immediately, I think it’s going to be a disservice because it’s going to take space where we could have something better,” Melanie Redden said. Neighbors said that they are open to the space being repurposed but believe it should better serve the community’s needs. Rita Porterfield of the Bloomfield Alliance criticized the proposal.”Walmart tried this in Lawrenceville at their old Sears building. Teamsters chased it out and for good reason. And I hope Bloomfield can do the same because it’s a disingenuous application. It’s not going to be a grocery store. It’s going to be a freight terminal. And a freight terminal doesn’t serve any neighborhood need that we have here,” Porterfield said. The Zoning Board of Adjustment of adjustment is expected to make their decision in the next 45 days. A similar application for another former Rite Aid location on Noblestown Road in Pittsburgh’s Westwood neighborhood is scheduled to be heard on July 16th.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tPITTSBURGH \u2014 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
After being closed for months, the former Rite Aid on Howley Street in Bloomfield may soon have a new purpose. <\/p>\n
Pittsburgh’s Zoning Board of Adjustment heard a proposal Thursday for a special exception that would allow Walmart to renovate the building for grocery store use. <\/p>\n
According to company representatives, the space would be used for their last-mile program which is a fulfillment hub for delivery drivers. <\/p>\n
Several community members opposed the application, calling it misleading and expressing concerns about increased traffic. They argued that the project would turn the site into a warehouse rather than a grocery store. <\/p>\n
“To have sort of like a nameless distribution center where the locals can’t even shop, to get items that they need immediately, I think it’s going to be a disservice because it’s going to take space where we could have something better,” Melanie Redden said. <\/p>\n
Neighbors said that they are open to the space being repurposed but believe it should better serve the community’s needs. <\/p>\n
Rita Porterfield of the Bloomfield Alliance criticized the proposal.<\/p>\n
“Walmart tried this in Lawrenceville at their old Sears building. Teamsters chased it out and for good reason. And I hope Bloomfield can do the same because it’s a disingenuous application. It’s not going to be a grocery store. It’s going to be a freight terminal. And a freight terminal doesn’t serve any neighborhood need that we have here,” Porterfield said. <\/p>\n
The Zoning Board of Adjustment of adjustment is expected to make their decision in the next 45 days. <\/p>\n
A similar application for another former Rite Aid location on Noblestown Road in Pittsburgh’s Westwood neighborhood is scheduled to be heard on July 16th.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After being closed for months, the former Rite Aid on Howley Street in Bloomfield may soon have a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":239487,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[91320,41115,7715,103010,24683,21080,13671,53781,21533,103008,1724,103013,103004,103007,8588,103011,5914,40406,103014,73,75,74,103015,103012,13254,2009,103006,103009,23258,20354,40405,55690,103005],"class_list":["post-239486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-adjustment","tag-bid","tag-bloomfield","tag-bloomfield-alliance","tag-community-concerns","tag-concern","tag-delivery-driver","tag-delivery-drivers","tag-former-rite-aid","tag-fulfillment-hub","tag-grocery-store","tag-grocery-store-use","tag-howley-street","tag-last-mile-program","tag-lawrenceville","tag-melanie-redden","tag-need","tag-noblestown-road","tag-old-rite-aid-location","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-proposal-thursday","tag-rita-porterfield","tag-rite-aid","tag-space","tag-special-exception","tag-traffic-concerns","tag-walmart","tag-warehouse","tag-westwood","tag-zoning-board","tag-zoning-board-of-adjustment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239486\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}