Westborough planning board continues hearing on 10 Turnpike Road drive‑through after hours of resident traffic and safety concerns

The Westborough Planning Board on Feb. 18 continued its hearing on a proposed coffee shop with a drive‑through at 10 Turnpike Road after more than two hours of public comment about traffic, pedestrian safety and neighborhood impacts.

Vice Chair John Gelsich opened the hearing and after applicant testimony and extensive resident testimony the board voted to continue the site plan and special‑permit hearings to March 4, 2025, so members can consider additional information and allow the absent member to participate. The continuance motion passed on a voice tally the chair recorded as 3 in favor, 1 opposed.

The applicant, represented by civil engineer Sam Elfronti of Soley Engineering and manager John Nichols for 6 Humphrey Street Realty Trust, told the board the revised plan reflects peer‑review comments from GPI and town staff. Elfronti said the site proposes 76 parking spaces (the zoning minimum is 42) and 15 drive‑through queue spaces, exceeding the town’s queue requirement of 12. He summarized a queue analysis of seven Massachusetts Starbucks locations, reporting an average observed queue of 7.9 vehicles and a maximum of 11 during roughly 14 hours of observation.

Elfronti also said the traffic analysis was expanded to include the Milk Street/Park Street intersections and the Turnpike eastbound on‑ramp after peer‑review requests. For the 2031 horizon year he reported AM peak turning volumes of 88 vehicles in the no‑build scenario and 110 in the build scenario; he later said the net additional peak‑hour trips directly attributable to the project from Milk Street are about 22.

Residents and business owners raised a string of concerns: Wayne Webster warned that “Park Street will basically become gridlocked during those times 5 days a week,” citing queue‑length calculations; Dan Politica and others described school buses and large vehicles that use Park Street and asked how those movements were addressed; Ken Kelly and other commenters flagged the proposed Boston‑Worcester Airline Trail (BWALT) crossing opposite the site and urged further pedestrian‑safety study; and Jonathan Hoffman, who operates a dental practice on the site, said the drive‑through lanes merge near his entrance and could interfere with deliveries and patient access.

The applicant and the town’s peer reviewer, GPI, have both recommended traffic‑mitigation steps. Elfronti said GPI concluded a deceleration lane on Route 9 is warranted in existing conditions regardless of the project; options discussed included a contribution from the applicant to fund a MassDOT evaluation or a 12‑month post‑occupancy monitoring program with mitigation if crashes or operating problems occur. Elfronti said the town engineer and GPI agreed the project as revised addresses their prior comments.

Board members pressed on several points, including peak‑hour timing, how delivery and service vehicles would be handled, and whether solar glare on eastbound Route 9 had been considered; the applicant acknowledged solar glare was not evaluated in the traffic study and said MassDOT had not flagged the intersection as problematic in prior correspondence. The planner, Jenny Gingris, confirmed updated peer‑review and town‑engineer comments were in the record and online.

The board did not take a final vote on either the site plan or the special permit. Instead it continued both items to the board’s March 4 meeting to allow further review and full board participation.

What’s next: The hearing will reconvene March 4 at 6:30 p.m. with the applicant and staff expected to supply any additional requested materials and clarifications.