Fast food not part of the plan for Framingham parcel
Staff photo
Traffic backs up at the intersection of California Avenue and Route 9 during rush hour on Wednesday.
Wendy’s may view a property on the westbound side of Route 9 in Framingham as ideal for a new restaurant. But economic development leaders have a different vision for the site.
The fast-food chain has proposed building a drive-thru location at 1699 Worcester Rd., on the site of the former Tin Alley Grill, which closed in 2008. That plan, which requires a special permit and site plan review approval from the Planning Board, has been met with resistance from businesses located in the Framingham Technology Park, behind the site. They fear traffic will worsen in the already busy area, especially during peak commuting hours in the late afternoon and the early evening.
Home to large corporate tenants such as Genzyme and Bose, the technology park suffers from rush-hour bottlenecks that would be exacerbated by traffic that would take a left turn into Wendy’s via California Avenue, which runs perpendicular to Route 9. According to a traffic study conducted by Wendy’s and submitted to the Planning Board, the restaurant would result in 125 additional trips, both in and out of Wendy’s, during peak weekday commuting time.
“It’s difficult, as it is, for their employees, their customers, and their suppliers to come and go,” said Paul Matthews, executive director of the 495/MetroWest Partnership, a regional economic development organization that works with tech park tenants on development matters that affect them.
A proposal to build a McDonald’s on the site was shot down a couple of years ago after tech park tenants expressed similar concerns, according to Matthews.
Town pushes rezoning for tech park growth
While the Planning Board must review Wendy’s proposal on its merits, Town Hall has made the case for reserving the Tin Alley site to serve the growing technology park. Town officials have been working on plans to rezone the parcel and others in the vicinity to match the tech park’s zoning. The move would accommodate planned growth by businesses there, according to Town Manager Robert Halpin.
Framingham officials hope a proposal to rezone the parcels between the park and Route 9 will be put a vote at Town Meeting in September. Halpin said afterward that the town would devise a land use plan that would make room for transit development that would improve the traffic situation by adding parking and making the tech park more accessible for walkers.
A tech park transit center?
Town officials are working with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation and MassDevelopment, the state’s finance and development agency, on this project. Halpin said concrete plans aren’t yet available, but the vision is to build a transit center that may provide parking and shuttle buses for commuters to help ease congestion on the roadways within the park.
He said the plan is important because traffic is only expected to get heavier in the technology park; Bose has purchased land adjacent to its existing headquarters to potentially expand, according to Halpin, and Genzyme is expanding its operations on the site.
Meanwhile, a fast-food restaurant, such as Wendy’s, at the entrance of the park “seems to me to be less of an opportunity for the town,” Halpin said, though he noted that the Planning Board review will continue despite his sentiments.
Bob Bertini, a spokesman for Wendy’s, said the restaurant chain is following the process prescribed by the Planning Board.
“We’ve shared our vision for (the) site with the Framingham Planning Board, and we look forward (to) becoming an active member of the local business community. We trust the application will be reviewed on its merits, based current zoning requirements,” Bertini wrote in an e-mail.
A third hearing on the Wendy’s project is scheduled for April 27. Both permits require majority approval from Planning Board members to pass.
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