Hy-Vee in Jacksonville is hoping final plans for a pharmacy drive thru will be approved by the end of this month.
The Jacksonville City Council approved a first reading for a special use zoning change for the store last Monday night. The zoning change was approved by the Jacksonville Plans Commission on May 1st.
The zoning change is required so that the grocer can install a drive-thru pharmacy window on the west side of its building.
Jacksonville City Planner Brian Nyberg says that the plan has been in the works for several months and had to go through several changes to get it right: “Hy-Vee is going to add a pick up window on the northwest corner of their building. They are adding a pharmacy inside. They are not actually going to put in a window. They are just adding a pick-up point. It will come from inside, kind of like a bank where you don’t see it. It will come under ground and come up in a little cylinder-type thing. They actually have to widen the road to the west. It will go on the easement between Hy-Vee and Home Depot. It will be widened to a certain point so that traffic can get around the stopped traffic going north picking up their pharmacy orders so the lane has to be widened in getting around that corner. If a vehicle comes from the north side of the building, they will have to go south on the west side and then turn around to come back through the drive-thru or they could go back around to the north. The lane had to be widened so that fire trucks can get to it and for the stopped traffic at the pharmacy window.”
According to the Journal Courier, Hy-Vee officials say they’ll announce future plans soon. No timeline for opening of the pharmacy has been announced. Nyberg says some light remodeling inside the store will also occur to install the pharmacy.