Planning Board Gives Go-ahead for Two Projects

The Planning Board covered a lot of ground Monday evening, in a meeting that was completed in less than 50 minutes.

The two most notable items on the agenda pertained to 704 Washington Street and 515 West Central Street

The 704 Washington Street property was purchased by Amego, which owns the adjoining Amego living complex with six dwelling units, from Lawrence P. Benedetto, former Franklin Police Chief, with the originally stated intention of converting an existing home on the site into two group homes for autistic adults.

The project has been before the Planning Board in the past and several questions were raised about details of the project, resulting in a modified site plan being submitted for this round of review.

In this round, the applicant had modified plans for a retention pond and setbacks from the property, to the satisfaction of the board. An abutter inquired regarding what would happen if degradation developed in the planned area along the property line and was assured that the applicant would address such an eventuality if it occurred.

Similarly, the Board acknowledged that the applicant was asking for relief with regard to “slight light spillage” on the road side of the property. Chair Greg Rondeau suggested that being minor in nature, it wouldn’t be a problem to allow it and noted that light spillage might actually be a good thing given how dark the road is and the volume of traffic passing by.

With that, the Board voted first to close the hearing and then voted unanimously to approve the plan as submitted, effectively greenlighting the project to move toward completion.

The Board then returned to another topic frequently addressed, namely the proposed daycare at 515 West Central Street, to the rear of the Wendy’s restaurant. This project has been previously rejected by the board, largely over traffic concerns. But court action sent the matter back to the board with specific constraints on their ability to rule against the project provided by the Land Court.

And, clearly, the board remained unconvinced, again asking questions regarding access, traffic, procedures for trash removal, etc. But the applicant was able to provide answers on all points, at least within the limits defined by the land court.

So, the board finally ran up the white flag and also voted to approve this project, which led to expressions of appreciation from the applicant team, which has been working on getting an approval for nearly two years.

The Board also approved minutes from a prior meeting, put aside questions about a development in Bellingham that is accessed through Franklin, and discussed issues regarding rezoning a number of properties on Lincoln Street that straddle two different zoning districts, complicating matters for homeowners.