Andrea Macko is reporting for Porcupine Soup Kelly’s Pharmacy in Greenville will likely be granted a zoning variance for the COVID-19 testing POD now located in its parking lot, according to town attorney Tal Rappleyea. The set-back variance is scheduled to be voted on at the March 9 meeting of the Greenville Zoning Board of Appeals. The set-back is required under town law because the POD is located too close to the firehouse. The POD is located in the last two parking spots behind the pharmacy. “I’m pretty sure the ZBA is going to approve it,” said Rappleyea. Pharmacist Quinn Kelly said that when they installed the POD in December, they were under the impression it did not require a building permit. But under town law, it does. The POD sits approximately 24 feet from the firehouse and the concrete buffers next to the POD, installed to keep vehicles from hitting it, measure roughly 22 feet from the firehouse. The property is owned by Tasting Lab owner and ZBA chairman Thomas Vance. Vance is also a pharmacy neighbor and he provided written permission for the POD to be installed. Vance will recuse himself from voting on the variance, he said. The POD is used to conduct COVID-19 testing outside of the pharmacy itself to keep potentially ill people away from the public. Kelly said close to 1,500 tests have been conducted at the location since January when they opened the POD. Approximately 12 percent of those tests have come back positive, he said. Read the full story in Porcupine Soup.