By Linda Taaffe

Walgreen’s Drug Stores could clear the final hurdle today to break ground on the Second Street site in downtown Los Altos slated for its next pharmacy location.

The Los Altos Architectural and Site Control Committee is scheduled to review the pharmacy’s final design plans tonight before sending them to the council for the final go-ahead.

Debate over a corner door entrance has meant more designs and delays for the project. Company officials first applied for a project permit last January after purchasing the former McWhorter’s stationary store site at a bankruptcy auction last year.

The Los Altos City Council asked the company to move its standard corner entrance to the front of the building last June in order to make the store more accessible.

The council agreed to allow Walgreen’s to take over the entire multiretail building at 301 Second St., eliminating a restaurant and computer store that city officials required in 1993 as part of the McWhorter’s project to encourage pedestrian traffic and discourage the creation of a big box retail store.