SANFORD — A tenant of one of the apartment buildings on Acorn Street slated for demolition to make way for a new Walgreens vowed Tuesday to mount a petition drive to overturn the council’s approval of a contract zone that allows the $7 million project to move ahead.

Janet Zappala told the Town Council she had already received a 65-day notice from her landlord to vacate the property.

“It’s a done deal,” she said before the second reading and vote on the proposal for contract zone with Arista Development. “You’ve already made up your minds.”

Some buildings on Main and Acorn streets will be demolished to make way for a Walgreens and a new York County Federal Credit Union.

While other tenants reportedly voiced opposition to the project at a March Planning Board meeting, Zappala’s was the sole voice raised in opposition Tuesday.

Zappala said the project will only benefit a few ”“ those selling their properties and Walgreens ”“ and said the town doesn’t need another pharmacy.

“I think you’re making a big mistake and setting a precedent,” she said. Zappala likened the proposal to the 1970s urban renewal project she said the townspeople didn’t want but the board of selectmen approved. That initiative, 35 years ago, saw a number of downtown buildings demolished and the Mid-Town Mall created.

Councilor Bradford Littlefield and Vice Chairman Alan Walsh said they’d both heard from those who favor the development.

Walsh called the project job creation and said he supports it.

Littlefield said the project wasn’t a “done deal,” though he intended to vote for it.

“Yes, we’ve been encouraged to vote for it, but there were many public hearings along the way,” said Littlefield. “My constituency is asking me to vote for this.”

The Town Council vote Tuesday was four in favor, with an abstention by Councilor Anne Marie Mastraccio, because her husband has a business in and is part owner of one of the buildings on Main Street that will be demolished. Councilor Joseph Hanslip and Chairman Gordon Paul were both absent.

Arista Development of Norwood, Mass. will develop a new, 3,000 square foot credit union to replace the existing 6,120 square foot credit union at the corner of Winter and Main streets. The 14,250 square foot Walgreens will be situated on Main and Acorn streets. The new Walgreens is expected to create 22 full-time and 12 part-time jobs and generate about $64,000 in new property taxes, according to the proposal submitted to the town last year.

Sanford Downtown Legacy, the champion of the town’s downtown district, had originally criticized some aspects of the proposal, taking the position that the design was incompatible with established guidelines. That changed when Arista altered some of the design.

Littlefield noted that getting the parties together wasn’t easy.

“I applaud the developers with working with those who were initially opposed to this,” he said.

Town Manager Mark Green said as part of the contract, the developer had initially agreed to provide $750 to each existing tenant family required to move to make way for the project, but has agreed to increase that amount to $1,000 per family after town officials and a tenant demonstrated the expense would cost more than the initial offer.

Some other provisions of the contract include that all lighting except what is required for store security be off when the store is closed, store signs may not be backlit, the developer contributes $10,000 for upgrading of pedestrian signals on Main Street, and the street lights must be the same or similar to ones recently installed in the millyard and approved by the town. Other fixtures must be compatible with the millyard road fixtures.

— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 or twells@journaltribune.com.