Dispute Over Traffic Patterns Halts Sutton Supermarket Plans
PHOTO/Jacquelyn Gutc
Vehicles make a left turn from a lane that will be removed as part of a $6.6-million MassDOT project. The owner of the Sutton Plaza says the lane removal will hinder travel to the plaza.
map/mitchell hayes
This map shows the locations of development plans at Route 146 and Boston Road in Sutton that would include two supermarkets. Above, vehicles turn left onto Boston Road toward Sutton Plaza.
Michael O’Brien, of Galaxy Development: “It’s a shame that we are where we are.”
For a town that has seen a steady rise in its population over the last six decades, plus an increase in traffic along its main thoroughfare — Route 146 — one would think development, including supermarkets, would be humming along.
Yet, a lawsuit over a town board’s decision may prevent Sutton from having two supermarkets in close proximity to each other, at least anytime soon.
Although the planning board has approved a 225,000-square-foot retail project on Route 146 that would include a Price Chopper supermarket, the owner of the nearby Sutton Plaza, which signed Stop & Shop to a lease agreement several years ago, wants the court to overturn that approval.
RK Centers, which owns Sutton Plaza at the intersection with Boston Road, and Stop & Shop argue that the board exceeded its authority in its June 3 decision. The two firms point to traffic issues.
The claim alleges that Galaxy Development, which is behind a project on the northbound side of the road that would include a Price Chopper, didn’t take into account the traffic Stop & Shop would generate. It also alleges that the planning board failed to take that into account when it approved what has been titled Pleasant Valley Crossing (formerly Cold Spring Brook Place under a previous developer’s plan).
Michael O’Brien, who purchased the land where Pleasant Valley Crossing would be located, is critical of the lawsuit and would like to move his project ahead.
“We’re building a supermarket, and there’s not another one (nearby),” he said. “(Stop & Shop) could have built years ago; they didn’t.”
He said that in contrast to Stop & Shop having had a signed lease for several years for Sutton Plaza, “the fact is, we were approved, we have a signed lease, we have a supermarket that wants to be there and (we) want to start right away.”
Jennifer Hager, the town’s planning director, said Stop & Shop and RK initially sought approval in 2006, but requested permit extensions the following three years for various reasons, including the lagging economy and the cost of necessary roadwork. In 2010, they asked for a five-year extension, she said, but the board granted only a one-year delay. Because of those extensions and two, two-year legislative extensions granted under the state’s Permit Extension Act, three permits for the project have been extended to 2015.
“In their last correspondence to the board (March 2011) … they gave no indication about when they intend to proceed,” Hager said.
Representatives from Stop & Shop declined to comment on the company’s real estate plans.
According to minutes from an April 22 public hearing on the project, Galaxy’s traffic engineer, William Scully, acknowledged that potential Stop & Shop traffic wasn’t specifically taken into account when he conducted a traffic evaluation. But he also utilized a study by the state’s Department of Transportation (MassDOT) and believed it took the Stop & Shop project into account.
(Scully) “expressed confidence that Boston Road will have plenty of reserve capacity to handle the combined traffic from the two proposed retail projects,” according to meeting minutes.
RK and Stop & Shop’s concerns center chiefly around major roadwork announced by the Patrick administration in 2010 at the intersection, where Sutton Plaza is located, on the southbound side of Route 146.
According to MassDOT, the $6.6-million project involves resurfacing and widening Route 146, adding a through lane each on the northbound and southbound sides, as well as turn lanes on Route 146 and Boston Road. It also calls for the elimination of the left-turn lane from Boston Road to the northbound side of Route 146.
Today, shoppers at Sutton Plaza can turn left onto Boston Road from the northbound side of Route 146, and into the plaza’s parking lot. But the roadwork would instead direct those drivers to the right, onto Pleasant Valley Road, then left onto Boston Road and west through the Boston Road-Route 146 intersection, according to MassDOT spokeswoman Sara Lavoie.
RK Centers and Stop & Shop argue that if that left-turn lane is removed, causing northbound drivers entering the plaza from Route 146 to perform a “jug-handle maneuver,” customers and others who want to enter the site will experience significant delays and safety issues” that will “have a substantial negative impact on access to the Sutton Plaza property and to the area leased by Stop & Shop.”
Jeannie Hebert, president and CEO of the Blackstone Valley Chamber of Commerce, favors the roadwork and says the jughandle will be an improvement, alleviating congestion and making it easier for people to access Pleasant Valley Crossing.
“The more infrastructure we can get in place, the better,” she said. “The drawback to the Blackstone Valley is we don’t have the infrastructure in place. (But) that area is designated for development; there’s no doubt about it.”
Closer To The Goods
As it stands, Sutton residents mus travel to Millbury, Whitinsville, Uxbridge or Grafton to buy their groceries, Hebert said. But although Price Chopper and Stop & Shop might have fewer potential sales if both erect stores in the area than if there were just one supermarket, Hebert believes both could succeed because there would be a store on either side of the divided highway. And she said more development in the area will help ease congestion near the intersection, as drivers will have more places to go near the highway.
Last year, O’Brien purchased the 40-acre piece of land that he plans to develop into Pleasant Valley Crossing for $3.6 million. At the time, he said the upcoming roadwork helped indicate it was the right time to buy the property, which had been approved for a 155,000-square-foot retail development but was later scrapped, after the developer filed for bankruptcy. (O’Brien bought the site from Millbury Federal Credit Union, which had taken the property at auction.)
O’Brien’s plan includes a 51,500-square-foot Price Chopper, a 7,000-square-foot restaurant, a 3,300-square-foot bank with a drive-through lane, and other retail space totaling 7,800 square feet. He said it would likely cost $15 million to $20 million to build and would employ at least 400, with Price Chopper accounting for 325 jobs — more than 80 percent. A second phase, to come later, would be construction of a 155,595-square-foot site for a home improvement center.
Lavoie, of MassDOT, said the agency is aware of RK Centers and Stop & Shop’s disapproval of removing the left-turn lane, but that both entities have generally supported the project as a whole.
“At this time, we do not expect the complaint to have any impact on the project,” she wrote in an email. “We have gone through the project development public process and we (are) prepared to proceed.”
She said work is underway to relocate utilities in the area of construction, which is expected to start in late fall or early spring.
Meanwhile, Hager, the town’s planning director, said additional work along Boston Road has been proposed, specifically for the Pleasant Valley Crossing project, that will include a traffic light at the project entrance.
Hager declined to comment on the lawsuit, but said the town’s master plan study from 2012 “reflected a solid desire for local grocery, restaurants, retail and manufacturing.”
“The town is always supportive of uses that will provide local services and jobs as well as positive tax base increases,” she said.
According to planning board meeting minutes, there were six public hearings regarding O’Brien’s development between January and June. The town first heard objections from RK and Stop & Shop on April 22, the day of the fourth public hearing. It was at that meeting when Galaxy’s traffic engineer addressed traffic concerns raised by RK and Stop & Shop.
Kevin P. O’Flaherty, the Boston-based attorney representing RK Centers and Stop & Shop, declined comment.
Meanwhile, O’Brien said the next step is for his and the town’s attorneys to file a response to the suit and wait for a hearing date to be set.
“Our project has been pretty big news and it’s a great shot in the arm for economic development in the area, and we were ready to start (in August),” he said. “It’s a shame that we are where we are.”
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