Bartlett board OKs plans to build Chase branch

The Bartlett village board approved plans Tuesday to construct a Chase Bank branch in a Home Depot outlot at Route 59 and Stearns Road.

The board voted upon the issue before, at a meeting on Oct. 18, but the motion failed in a split vote. Trustees T.L. Arends, Mike Airdo and Eric Shipman voted no, while Trustees Greg Martin, Frank Napolitano and Dennis Nolan voted yes.

To build the proposed 4,050-square-foot bank, which will include four drive-through lanes, 99 parking spaces will need to be removed from the Home Depot parking lot, reducing the total to 419 spaces.

At last month’s meeting, Arends said she was worried about the parking problems Home Depot might face if a bank was built in an outlot, particularly in the summer when the store already loses parking spaces to an area where plants are sold.

Nolan said at the last meeting he was hoping to vote no due to the traffic impact the bank might have but decided to vote yes when he was reassured by a traffic consultant that the impact would be minimal.

He added that he understood Home Depot needed to sell that part of their property and said he felt the bank would be the “lesser of all evils” that could move into that site.

“I can’t find a way to say no,” he said.

The ordinance originally failed because at least four affirmative votes were needed to pass it.

But on Tuesday, Shipman asked the board to reconsider an ordinance approving the plan. Airdo was absent at the meeting and Mayor Michael Kelly excused himself from the discussion as he had on Oct. 18, citing a potential conflict of interest.

Before voting the only no, Arends asked Shipman why he changed his mind. He said it was a result of recent correspondence with Home Depot and a personal reconsideration.

She pressed Shipman to give more detail on his decision, to which he only responded, “I just reconsidered it.”

Arends noted that while the traffic study showed an insignificant impact, she still didn’t understand the need for another bank near the intersection.

“The number of banks that are there (near Route 59 and Stearns Road), it looks ludicrous right now to me,” she said, adding that she believes in keeping open space in Bartlett. “I just feel it will be a nightmare.”

No dates have been released regarding when construction of the bank will begin.