Chick-Fil-A Not Liking Proposed Special Permit Condition

A proposed Chick-fil-A special permit condition supported by the Westborough Planning Board “is the same as saying ‘no’” to the chicken restaurant opening at the Speedway Plaza on Route 9, attorney Mark Donohue told the board Tuesday night.

The board wants to require Chick-fil-A or Speedway owner Regency Centers Corp. to construct an access road between the Speedway and Belmont shopping plazas.

Talk of connecting the adjacent shopping centers dates back to the 1980s, town officials and Donohue have said. The proposed Chick-fil-A location has long been identified as part of that potential road. 

But, Donohue said Tuesday night that requiring a connection from an alternate location at Speedway, at 290 Turnpike Road, could affect Chick-fil-A’s plans.

Chick-fil-A “has identified this site” as a “preferred site” as part of a “corporate goal of building a certain number of stores,” Donohue said.

“This store needs to open on a specific schedule. If it can’t fall on that schedule because of a condition that can’t be met, Chick-fil-A would have no choice” to explore “another site, which may be in Westborough,” he said.

The planning board continued the public hearing to Aug. 13, in the Forbes Municipal Building.

Board members said the access road would benefit the town and the shopping centers.

“More traffic means more shoppers and more customers,” member Mark Silverberg said. 

“I know that I’ve gone to Lowe’s, knowing that I had to go to the grocery store, I specifically didn’t go to that Stop & Shop because it was in the other direction.”

Chairman Lester Hensley said he understood that since the board’s last meeting, Regency representatives met with town officials “to discuss the desire to achieve access between” the two plazas.

Hensley said he understood that Regency/Chick-fil-A had reached “an agreement in principle” to “construct that access road, but only to the property line with Belmont Plaza."

Hensley said that subsequently, town officials met with Belmont Plaza owner Robert Kirsh to see if he’s open to “providing the access, permission and easements” to finish that connection. Kirsh “was potentially open to providing the access and easements,” Hensley said.

Donohue said that while “certainly having some level of agreement with Mr. Kirsh in principle is better than we had two weeks ago,” it “doesn’t solve the underlying problem.”

“His consent is not the only consent, nor is it the only issue,” Donohue said. 

Because Kirsh’s involvement “is not the only step, it’s unacceptable to Chick-fil-A as a condition of approval,” he said.

A traffic study must be done before the connection is built, to determine if changes to the area are needed, Donohue said. 

Chick-fil-A would be willing to contribute $5,000 toward the study, Donohue said. A project traffic consultant said Tuesday night the study would cost $10,000 to $15,000.

Regency has “already paid once, essentially, for that light. It’s not going to pay for it again. The only way that light has to be changed is other people’s traffic,” Donohue said. 

Regency is “not going simply to allow a condition that gives Lowe’s and Bernie and Phyl’s access to the site without having anybody else responsible,” he said.

And Regency’s lease with Stop & Shop includes restrictions that would be affected by the connector, he said. Stop & Shop is fighting “for its survival in Westborough with Wegman’s,” Donohue said. 

Hensley said that “we believe the condition is in the long-term interest of all the parties involved.”

Donohue said he understands the board’s motives, but added that “everybody has to stay within the constraints of what they have.”

Hensley said the board will ask Town Counsel Gregory Franks to weigh in on whether the connection can be required in the special permit.

“If he happens to agree with you, that might change the position of the board members,” Hensley said.

“Otherwise, we’ll continue to stand by that recommendation.”