ORADELL — A group of residents has banded together to fight the construction of a Walgreens store on Kinderkamack Road.

The 80-member group, Citizen Action to Preserve Oradell, has hired a lawyer and plans to appeal the zoning board's December vote, which granted 10 variances to allow the project.

Some of the residents are unhappy about a large chain store in a downtown filled with mom-and-pop operations, while others say the proposed store is too big and will create too much traffic.

"It's not that I'm against Walgreens coming into town," said Mark Abssy, a resident who lives near the proposed pharmacy. "It's just that they don't need to take up an acre of space in a town that has a two-stoplight downtown."

The board could finalize the approval at its next meeting on Tuesday. Then, the residents have 10 days from the date the decision is published to appeal to the mayor and council. Residents can also file a lawsuit in state Superior Court, said Richard Abrahamsen, the residents' attorney.

Felice Restaurant, the former Cornucopia Gourmet Foods and two homes would be razed to make way for the drugstore, which is within a half-mile of two other pharmacies.

Abrahamsen said changing zoning restrictions to allow commercial use in a residential zone sets a dangerous precedent.

"The mere fact that there's one private individual who's willing to sell the property is not a reason to include it in the business zone," Abrahamsen said.

Fred Daibes, the widely known Edgewater developer building the project, said he made many concessions at the zoning board's suggestion, including decreasing the building size from two stories to one, changing design elements and knocking down the two houses to create a buffer zone between the store and homes behind it.

As for traffic, Daibes argued that the existing restaurants produce more traffic than a new pharmacy would.

"More people are going to go into a restaurant and a diner than the Walgreens," Daibes said. "There's always going to be a group that's not happy with an approval."

But residents said the store would snarl the busy intersection of Ridgewood Avenue and Kinderkamack Road. Resident Margaret MacFarlane said she is concerned that traffic would back up on Kinderkamack Road behind residents waiting to turn left into the pharmacy from Ridgewood Avenue.

"Traffic-wise, I think it's a catastrophe," MacFarlane said. "That's a dangerous intersection to try to cross, anyhow."