A plan to build a Walgreens pharmacy in Oakland Mills could, if not revised, create a traffic hazard at the corner of Route 175 and Thunder Hill Road, according to county and state officials.

In a June 19 report on the project, county site plan evaluators asked developer Bavar Properties to remove from the plan a proposed entrance to the store on Thunder Hill Road.

Planners are worried that the entrance is too close to the Route 175 and Thunder Hill Road intersection and would cause traffic on Route 175 to back up, thereby increasing the potential for rear-end collisions, according to the report.

In March, the Columbia-based Bavar submitted a site plan to build a 14,820-square-foot Walgreens at the corner of Route 175 and Thunder Hill Road.

The developer has 45 days to revise and resubmit the site plan. The project would then go before the county's Planning Board for approval, said Kimberley Flowers, deputy director for public affairs at the county's Department of Planning and Zoning.

Robert Bavar, vice president of Bavar Properties said June 27 that officials of his company had not yet had enough time to decide what to do about the county's request to change the proposed entrance of the Walgreens.

However, he added that he did not believe any aspects of the project, including the Thunder Hill entrance, would create a traffic hazard.

He plans to work with his staff to revise the plan and respond to comments from the county, he said, adding that the company is sticking with its plan to open the store by late 2009.

Traffic concerns highlighted

In May, State Highway Administration engineers who reviewed the plan, determined that the proposed entrance to the store off Thunder Hill Road would be too close to Route 175, Steven Foster, a State Highway Administration engineer, wrote in a May 21 letter to county officials.

State officials reviewed the project because Route 175 is a state road, said David Buck, a spokesman for the State Highway Administration.

In the letter, Foster recommends that the developer eliminate the entrance right turn off Thunder Hill Road and plan another entrance access to the store on nearby Twin Knolls Road.

"By eliminating that (driveway access) we eliminate what could cause the additional rear end accidents," Buck said. "We do feel it would adversely affect Route 175."

Officials from Manekin, a firm working on the construction and engineering aspects of the project with Bavar, presented it to the Oakland Mills Village Board on June 10, but did not go into much detail about how the store will affect local traffic.

Manekin officials likely will attend a July 22 village board meeting to discuss traffic, said Sandy Cederbaum, village manager of Oakland Mills, adding that traffic is a primary interest for village officials and the community.

Although the village board has no authority to approve the site plan, it would determine if the project fits the village's architectural covenants, which govern the appearance of buildings in Oakland Mills.

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