The Batavia Town Planning Board on Tuesday night approved the placement of three face lit, red, white and blue acrylic wall signs for the proposed Five Star Urgent Care project on Veterans Memorial Drive, adjacent to The Home Depot.
Tracey Diehl, expeditor for the national chain of walk-in clinics that treat people with illnesses and injuries and perform physicals, immunizations and X-rays, said that the 16-foot-high signs each measure 133.12 square feet and will allow patrons to identify Five Star Urgent Care when coming from all directions.
“We wanted to make the signs (depicting the firm’s red, white and blue logo) equal in size so that they don’t look awkward,” Diehl told the board. “They will be face lit and made of acrylic with a vinyl overlay.”
Diehl said the site, which has yet to be developed, is close to The Home Depot and the NYS Thruway, with visibility from Veterans Memorial Drive, the Thruway and Park Road.
Previously, Five Star Urgent Care’s variance requests were approved by the Town Zoning Board of Appeals and recommended for approval by the Genesee County Planning Board.
According to the company’s website, there are 12 locations in New York, including Jamestown, Geneva, Ithaca and Plattsburgh. Diehl said that “six more sites are in the process” of being finalized.
She also noted that there are some in other states.
The New York locations were founded in 2012 by Dr. John Radford, a physician based in Ellicottville who spent time as an emergency department employee in Batavia early in his more than 20-year career.
Diehl said that a major benefit provided by Five Star Urgent Care is that it takes walk-ins. Plans are to open by the end of the year.
In other action, the board approved a site plan and the construction of one building for Gateway GC LLC’s commercial office building/parking lot project in the Gateway II Corporate Park on Call Parkway off West Saile Drive.
Further expansion, however, would be subject to the completion of conditions from the original list of Gateway II park improvements that focus on traffic flow and a water main.
According to David Ciurzynski, project manager for general contract Manning Squires Hennig Co. Inc., the $2.6 million plan calls for the construction of five 27,00-square-foot buildings with ample landscaping featuring several varieties of trees, including maples, oaks, chestnuts and birch.
Board Chairperson Kathy Jasinski noted the importance of proper landscaping.
“This is something that I was interested in, since you will be setting the bar," she said. "For anything that follows, we would like to keep the same look."
Town Engineer Steve Mountain pointed out that there could be traffic flow issues as buildings are added to the site, adding that the expense of highway improvements would likely be split among developers, the Genesee County Economic Development Center and state and/or federal grants.
Ciurzynski said that his company is working with GCEDC to complete Call Parkway (a path to Route 98) and the water lines needed to service the buildings.
He said that the project “doesn’t work if we have (approval for) only one building,” adding that his company already has attracted a possible tenant for the first building.
