NORTHBOROUGH – Concerns about a proposed ice cream restaurant at 305 and 309 Main St. were voiced by Northborough residents and members of the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) Sept. 26. No official vote was taken by the ZBA on the three special permits requested for the project.
However, a majority of the board members voiced concerns.
“The drive-through, the curb cuts, the potential for traffic build up on Route 20 and on East Main St. is not beneficial to the town,” said member Brad Blanchette. “It’s not beneficial to the neighborhood. I don’t think this is a great project for what we’re looking at here.”
The site used to be home to Texas BBQ Company. The plans call for a drive-through and walk-up windows. In addition to the existing Route 20 entrance, a second entrance off East Main St. would be added.
The applicant — SALIII 305-309 Main Street, LLC — has been before the ZBA since June seeking special permits for the project. Since the project first came before the board, there have been three iterations of the plans as the applicant tried to address questions and concerns from abutters, town staff and the Design Review Committee.
Project engineer James Tetreault said while the site’s layout was largely the same compared to the other versions, there were “significant” differences: additional crosswalks were added, two more queuing spots for cars were added for the drive-through and the East Main St. entrance was moved to the east. Additionally, the drive-through no longer exits directly onto Route 20 but into a driving aisle in the parking lot.
A traffic study was conducted. According to traffic engineer Scott Thornton, the number of trips were projected based on fast-food type trips. According to the traffic impact assessment, the project is expected to generate 278 net new vehicle trips on an average weekday and 390 net new trips on Saturday. The assessment concluded that traffic related to the project would “not result in significant increases on overall traffic volumes or traffic delays within the study area.”
Thornton cautioned that the numbers were conservative.
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Three of the four Design Review Committee members —Amy Poretsky, Lisa Maselli and Dario Dimare — voted against recommending the project with member David Veron dissenting. The three members said they didn’t feel the renovation was compliant with the 2012 design guidelines, portions of the parking lot may violate zoning bylaws and they were concerned about the location of the dumpster.
Dimare has since left the committee and the town is looking to fill his seat with another Northborough architect.
Diane Root, who lives nearby, said traffic congestion and issues already exist on Route 20, East Main St. and Bartlett St. and would be exacerbated by a drive-through and exit onto East Main, among her concerns.
“The consequences of approving a drive-through on this site are clearly foreseeable and they are detrimental and they are permanent,” Root said.
Resident Scott Rogers voiced his support for the project, saying that it was difficult to distinguish between existing and additional traffic.
“Overall, would like some ice cream in town. I think it’s a wonderful project, and I’m sure you’ll come up with a set of conditions that mitigate the risks and allow this project to go through,” he said.
ZBA member Fran Bakstran walked through the seven-point criteria for approval from the perspective of arguing in favor of the project.
She said the master plan didn’t say that drive-through ice cream restaurants were in opposition of what residents wanted nor the design or aesthetics of the building.
“But we do want to promote the redevelopment of vacant and underutilized commercial and industrial properties — that is in the master plan,” she said.
She noted that it has been determined that the traffic wouldn’t have an adverse impact. Any project on the site may have the potential of an East Main curb cut, she said.
“When you abut a business or industrial or commercial zone, you take the risk of having neighbors who are not homeowners,” Bakstran said.