Developer seeks hotels, zoning text changes and special permits at 39 and 49–51 Locust; commission requests peer traffic review

Windward Development and its consultants presented a multi-part application on Sept. 25 to redevelop two downtown parcels at 39 and 49–51 Locust Avenue, seek zoning-text amendments to permit hotels in the Business C zone, and obtain special permits and site-plan approvals for a hotel and related retail and parking modifications. Developer Elliot Sidorides said the project would combine the two properties (owned by 2 Corners LLC) into an adaptive-reuse master plan that adds a 40-key hotel with ground-floor food-and-beverage space and roughly 600 square feet of new Cherry Street retail at 49–51 Locust, and 4,600 square feet of ground-floor retail or office plus eight extended-stay units above at 39 Locust. The team characterized the plan as a mixed-use, form-based response to site topography, pedestrian connectivity and the town’s Plan of Conservation and Development (POCD). Traffic consultant David Sullivan of SLR Consulting summarized a traffic and safety study that found the project would generate modest new peak-hour trips: for the combined 49–51 site the team estimated roughly 37 trips in the AM peak and 44 in the PM peak, and 54 trips for the Saturday midday peak; 39 Locust…