The town will be reviewing a proposal from the Stop & Shop Supermarket Company, LLC, to allow the firm to position several storage lockers outdoors near the front entrance to its Botsford store as part of the Peapod grocery-pickup service.

On April 17, Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) members discussed the proposed changes for the supermarket at Sand Hill Plaza at 228 South Main Street (Route 25). P&Z members decided that the firm would not need to obtain a formal revision to the special permit, which the P&Z had granted  for the shopping center in the past.

Such a formal revision would have required a public hearing to be held before the P&Z could have acted on the proposal. Instead, the company will apply to the land use agency office for a zoning permit for the proposed changes at the site.

Keith Mozer, Stop & Shop’s construction manager, explained the Peapod grocery pickup proposal to P&Z members at the April 17 session.

Under the plan, customers who order groceries online through the Peapod grocery service would be assigned designated times to pick up their groceries at the Stop & Shop store.

Before those pickup times, the ordered groceries would be delivered to the store and then placed in the lockers. On arriving at the store, customers would park in designated parking spaces in the parking lot, after which a store attendant would remove the groceries from the lockers and load it into the customers’ vehicles.

The lockers would be located outdoors, at the northeast corner of the supermarket.

Under the plan, “curbside” pickup of the stored groceries would not be allowed. A Fire Lane runs along the curb at Sand Hill Plaza where parking is prohibited.

The food pickup program would run from 7 am to 8 pm. Signs would be posted at the site explaining the food pickup process.

“Utilizing the existing Peapod online service, orders are placed on the Peapod website, selected at an existing ‘fulfillment center’ near the store, and delivered to the store inside a [temperature] conditioned tote, on a Peapod truck twice daily,” according to Stop & Shop.

Chill packs or dry ice are used to maintain cold temperatures for refrigerated or frozen items before a customer picks them up, according to the firm.

Stop & Shop is expected to soon seek a zoning permit from the land use agency for the grocery pickup service.