Walgreen's received preliminary approval from the Auburn Planning Board Tuesday.

Greg Sgromo will present his plans for Walgreen's to the city Zoning Board of Appeals to ask for a variance on signs.

If the pharmacy chain receives the nod for sign variances, Sgromo of the engineering firm Dunn & Sgromo will have to go before the planning board again next month.

Sgromo represents Point Five Developers Auburn I LLC., which wants to bring a 14,400-square-foot pharmacy to the corner of Columbus and Genesee streets. The store will not remain open 24 hours, Sgromo assured the board.

The designs include an electronic sign with a total of 99 square-foot surface space. Regulations limit the amount of sign face to 66 square feet. The building also would include another sign on the structure that surpasses the limit.

The preliminary designs include 64 parking spaces and a drive-thru window on the 1.47 acre parcel.

The store would employ 40 full- and part-time workers.

The city's other Walgreen's, on the corner of Grant and North Seward avenues, also received board action. The East Syracuse law firm Primo, Primo, Kirwan, LLP. attorney Courtney Hills requested the board split the land where the pharmacy, 150 Grant Ave., stands into two parcels.

The board agreed to divide the land into a plot of 2.07 acres where the store sits, and a 5.63 acre plot available for future development.

The larger parcel is under examination for a commercial plaza, city planner Stephen Selvek said.

Staff writer Jessica Soule can be

contacted 253-5311, ext 267 or

jessica.soule@lee.net