A plan to build a bigger Rite-Aid at the corner of Monroe Avenue and Goodman Street is back.

            But that doesn't necessarily mean it'll succeed.

            "It certainly is a better plan than the one we saw in the summer," says City Zoning Director Art Ientilucci. But that's far from a ringing endorsement.

            "We have to remember it's relative," he cautions. "The plan we reviewed earlier this year was certainly very substandard."

            The major change in the new plan is that the Rite-Aid building now goes all the way to the corner of Monroe and Goodman. In previous iterations, it was set back anywhere from 20 to 25 feet.

            The new plan preserves the façade of the old Monroe Theater, which currently houses Show World. It also preserves two houses on Amherst Street that would have been demolished under the previous plan, and it includes more window exposure on Monroe Avenue.

            It's now up to the city, and Ientilucci in particular, to decide whether the plan requires an Environmental Impact Statement. The decision to require one last time killed the project, Ientilucci says. And while he didn't say which way he's leaning on this version, his description of the EIS is telling. The decision to require one doesn't hinge just on traditional environmental issues like soil, water, or air quality.

            "It's traffic, it's historic resources, it's neighborhood design," Ientilucci says. If the city does require an EIS, the developer, Fred Rainaldi, will have to submit one before the plan can move forward. And the EIS will be subject to a public hearing. If the city doesn't require an EIS, Rainaldi will still need to seek special permits and variances from the Zoning Board and Planning Commission.

            "I would say the earliest it would get to them would be February," says Ientilucci.

Meanwhile, Highland Hospital's plan to build a four-story parking garage on South Avenue is already in the EIS phase. Ientilucci says he expects that the hospital will have the statement prepared sometime in January. The city is requiring an EIS mainly to get the hospital to explore alternatives to its current design.

            "I'm confident that they can come up with a design that will work for them and work for the neighborhood," he says.