The Redlands Planning Commission on June 11 balked at giving its blessing to the architectural plans for a drive-through CVS drugstore in the already approved shopping center to be built at Lugonia and Wabash avenues.
After considering the plan put forth by the architect on the project, Frank Fraga, the commission directed him to return on July 9 with a more imaginative draft. The CVS will be the secondary tenant at the center to be anchored by a Stater Bros. supermarket. The project was approved by the planning commission in October and the first phase of construction on the property is now under way.
Members of the commission said that the property is a highly visible one that will represent the city to outsiders. A report by the city planning department called for CVS to incorporate architectural details found elsewhere in Redlands.
City planner Manuel Baeza was somewhat deprecating  in sizing up Fraga’s proposed design, referring to it as a “typical prototype building with no distinctive features.”
Fraga took umbrage at that, contradicting city staff and maintaining the building is aesthetically coordinated with other elements of the shopping center design. He pointed out that he has had considerable dialogue with city staff over the last six months and that CVS had agreed to change its recognizable corporate color scheme usually provided for its drugstores. He had also augmented the building with a stone veneer and his current plans include a textured stucco exterior, stone accents, wainscoting and a porte-cochere, as well as a portico feature over the pick-up window.
The planning department requested five changes to the architectural plan, to include a tower with Spanish-style roofing at the building entrance, covered walkways with open, wooden beams, and trellises planted with vines.  Fraga said some of the conditions could be incorporated and the commission scheduled him to return with those plans in hand next month.