Planning Board approves Dunkin’ site on parkway
Published on July 5th, 2006
STONEHAM, MA - The town’s Planning Board authorized a special permit last Wednesday for a drive-thru at a Lynn Fells Parkway gas station, paving the way for a proposed 1,600 square foot Dunkin’ Donuts at the property.
The approval, which only allows Lawrence-based Cafua Management Company to attach a snaking drive-thru access road around the present day Super Petroleum site at 2 Lynn Fells Parkway, located adjacent to J.J. Grimsby’s, is just one of three local and state permissions required for the mixed-use project to break-ground.
“It’s a separate process where we’ll have to obtain a separate access permit from DCR. But we can’t get to DCR without going through the local process,” said Houghton of the other permissions, which also entail obtaining a site plan approval from the Board of Selectmen.
“Just for the record, we are not taking any green-space away. It’s already either paved or sidewalk,” added the local attorney, speaking about mitigation plans to reconfigure the Lynn Fells Parkway to include a third lane of traffic on the southbound portion of the roadway.
According to Planning Board member Kevin Dolan, who moved to grant the special permit, the applicants had shown that the drive-thru component would not overburden morning rush-hour traffic along the throughway to Route I-93.
“I know the petitioners brought-up a lot of things that are going to be discussed before the board of Selectman,” said Dolan, referring to several aspects of the plan such as building design, lighting, hours of operation, and the fast-food and gas station pump uses themselves.
“But the way I look at it, what’s before us [to consider when granting this special permit] is parking, traffic, and screening,” the Planning Board member added, arguing that he felt the project proponents had adequately shown that those impacts would be mitigated.
According to Houghton, who represented the Cafua Management Company, the Dunkin’ Donuts proposal would raze an existing structure at the property and erect a smaller 1,600 square foot building capable of seating 12 customers.
The drive-thru, which would be accessed through an entrance closest to the J.J. Grimsby’s lot, would be capable of holding a line of 15 waiting cars — that would leave the site by driving around the entire perimeter of the building and then turning onto the Lynn Fells Parkway through an exit closest to the Melrose-line.
The well-frequented morning eatery would have room for 19-parking spaces, more than four times the number required by the town’s zoning code. In addition to the Dunkin Donuts component, the project would also include the continued-use of the existing gas pumps at the lot.
The lone dissenter in the subsequent 4-1 approval by the elected board, Planning Board member Stephen Catalano casted doubt on the ability of proposed traffic improvements to adequately mitigate any vehicular build-up caused by the use.
According to a study submitted by applicant-hired consultant Nijdeh Havan, a senior traffic engineer at Boston’s Howard Stein-Hudson Associates, the Dunkin’ Donuts would not negatively impact rush-hour traffic, should the state’s Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) permit a realignment of the Lynn Fells Parkway.
Specifically, Havan argued that by surrendering a several-foot width of property in-front of the Dunkin Donuts, and further paving over landscaped buffer islands situated along Super-Petroleum, Jerry Jingle Park, and J.J. Grismby’s — that are considered part of the actual right-of-way — a left-hand turning lane could be created along the Lynn Fells Parkway near the intersection with Pond Street and West Wyoming Avenue.
By doing so, the consultant argued, a queue of cars which builds-up in front of the signalized intersection, as they wait to turn right onto Pond Street to get to I-93, would be eliminated. Specifically, Havan claimed that patrons turning into Dunkin’ Donuts wouldn’t be severely hindered from utilizing the turning lane to access the site, as northbound traffic isn’t very congested.
While exiting, the establishment’s patrons could turn back into that left hand turning lane, which would also serve as a through-route for drivers continuing south towards Malden.
Meanwhile, the third lane would allow for motorists to turn right onto Pond Street without being backed up by the queue of vehicles that normally snakes a mile-back during the morning rush-hour, the consultant insisted.
“What we found is that one-third of the traffic is taking a right [onto Pond Street] from the Lynn Fells Parkway southbound. What we’re proposing to do is widen the parkway to include a left-hand turning lane [for Dunkin Donuts], Havan explained.
“We understand that a lot of traffic drives by there, that a lot of people from Melrose go by to get to I-93, and it is significantly Melrose traffic,” Houghton later said. “But we took that into account and really tried to improve the traffic situation.”
Wary of those claims, Catalano joined a number of abutting Stoneham and Melrose neighbors who questioned whether the turning lane would really alleviate the present day gridlock on the Lynn Fells Parkway during weekday mornings.
Specifically, the Planning Board member referred to the traffic consultant’s estimates that an average of 184 customers would frequent the site during the morning commute. 102 of those customers would access the site through the drive-thru, while another 82 would walk-into the business, according to the predictions.
Catalano further doubted the engineer’s claims that the gas station pumps would only see a one-percent increase in business activity, especially since many of those being drawn to the fast-food eatery would likely use the opportunity to fill-up their tanks.
“You didn’t calculate for anything at the pumps,” the Planning Board member charged. “You’re talking about 184 cars per hour? That’s three cars entering the site per minute. So every 20 seconds, a car is going to have to exit that site.”
“I know you said you’re going to improve he performance of the street [the traffic patterns on the Lynn Fells Parkway heading southbound]. But doesn’t that back-up?” asked Catalano, wondering how the left-hand/through route lane would not be congested by the regular stream of customers accessing the site.
Also echoing the Planning Board member’s skepticism, both Ravine Road resident Miriam Regan-Fiore and Newcomb Road resident Andrew Celentano argued that as frequent travelers through the area in question, they couldn’t imagine the traffic situation improving as was contended by the petitioners.
According to Celentano, his biggest concern surrounded the traffic engineer’s use of average daily trip estimates, especially since a median count prediction meant some days would be worse than others.
For Fiore, who predicted that a large portion of potential customers would be pulled off of West Wyoming Avenue — creating the potential for the motorists to utilize the J.J. Grimsby’s lot as a cut-through and separate exit outside of the mixed-use property — she felt that some type of traffic monitoring program was necessary to test the real-life traffic patterns being generated, if the site was ultimately approved.
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