Planning board continues hearing on 220 Turnpike Road site plan as peer review and department comments remain outstanding

The Town of Westborough Planning Board continued the public hearing for a proposed three-building commercial development at 220 Turnpike Road after the applicant and staff said peer-review and several town-department comments were still pending.

Chair Hazel Merce opened the hearing and read the legal notice for application 25-OO701, saying, “There are studies and information which we have not received yet, so I don't expect we will be making a decision tonight.” The applicant’s engineer, Patrick McCarty of McCarty Engineering, said, “We're here tonight to seek site plan approval from the planning board for the project at 220 Turnpike Road,” and described the plan as two 7,400-square-foot office buildings and an accessory garage, with the central building and garage proposed in phase one.

Why it matters: the site sits in the Highway Business district adjacent to Route 9 and an abutting property at 161 Milk Street. The project includes a shared access drive tied to a MassDOT-approved Route 9 entrance geometry. The town’s peer-review engineer and several departments will review stormwater, wetland impacts and sewer capacity before the board acts.

Key details and outstanding issues - Access and Route 9: McCarty said the proposed entrance follows MassDOT-approved turning geometry (right-in/right-out) and a raised center island; he told the board MassDOT’s manual constrains landscaping or design deviations along that island. - Wetlands and conservation: the site includes isolated and bordering vegetated wetlands. The applicants filed a Notice of Intent with the conservation commission and propose limited filling plus wetland replication and plantings to improve on-site wetland quality; the conservation commission will separately review those plans. - Stormwater and test pits: McCarty reported 15 test pits were excavated under town observation and that rooftop and pavement runoff will be handled with multiple subsurface infiltration basins; the peer-review engineer will verify the stormwater calculations. - Sewer allocation and septic contingency: the applicants said they intend to connect to town sewer but allocations have not been ratified; if sewer is unavailable the project could require septic systems that may reduce buildable area or eliminate a proposed building because of offsets and wetland constraints. McCarty cited an office use estimate (75 gallons per day per 1,000 sq. ft.) and calculated roughly 562.5 gallons per building per day under current designs. - Parking and trips: zoning requires 53 parking spaces; applicants propose 58 to allow flexibility if the second building is leased. They requested a traffic-study waiver, saying prior MassDOT vetting and low projected daily trips make a new full study unnecessary. - Trail easement: the Beewalt Trail easement runs along the site’s easterly curb line; board members and the applicants discussed steep grades and retaining-wall needs that make trail construction complex and potentially costly.

Public comment and board action: abutter Raj Patel (22 Park Street) asked about building height and wetland/drainage impacts, noting his home sits across the wetland. McCarty pointed to the infiltration system and said drainage is being directed away from nearby houses and into on-site systems; stormwater calculations will be peer-reviewed.

Disposition: a board member moved to continue the hearing to May 6; the motion was seconded and the board voted in favor. The continuation gives the town’s peer-review engineer and departments time to submit comments before the board takes a final vote.

What’s next: the board expects to receive peer-review comments and outstanding department feedback before the May 6 continuation; the applicant said revised plans will follow those reviews.