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ARMONK, N.Y. - The planned closing of the A&P on Main Street has residents and a town board member up in arms.
The date of the closing is still unknown, with tentative February and March dates possible. Elizabeth Nicholson, an A&P spokeswoman said, "we do not have an exact date for the closing of the Armonk A&P."
Once the store closes, hamlet residents will be left without a supermarket. Town board member Diane Roth plans to call on the town to provide bus service to an area supermarket for seniors. Roth said she will suggest the idea at Wednesday's town board meeting.
"I want the town to get a bus to bring seniors to a supermarket, I don't want them to suffer," Roth said.
Roth is modeling her plan after a service that was provided to seniors in New Rochelle after an A&P closed last summer, and Stop & Shop assisted with van service to residents of a senior home.
Roth blames the town board for the current situation in which A&P has been forced to close. Werber Management, the property owner, agreed to lease the space to CVS after the North Castle Planning Board approved A&P's plans to renovate and enlarge its store. But, the board didn't bring it to a vote at an April 2010 meeting.
"It was the inability of the previous town board to foresee the future," Roth said. "The day the board didn't bring A&P's plans to a vote was the day North Castle changed forever."
Roth said the planned supermarket for Armonk Square won't be big enough and thinks that Armonk Square was intended for a series of small retail shops.
Supervisor Howard Arden assured citizens that the construction of Armonk Square is proceeding, despite the petition filed against it by Michael Fareri, the local developer.
"Nothing has slowed down the development," Arden said, although a decision against it in the petition "would potentially stop it."
New York State Supreme Court Judge Susan Cacase, who was assigned the case, has yet to render a decision and was unavailable for comment Monday.
Armonk citizens continue to shop at the A&P, but are worried about the closure.
"It's too bad, I wish they could hold out a little longer," said Armonk resident Donna Berry. "I've been here 18 years and you get used to a place. It's part of the community and now we'll have to travel."
Some residents said that they will probably shop at the Stop & Shop in North White Plains after the A&P closes.
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