A developer who hopes to open a new Dunkin’ Donuts store on one of Hopkinton’s busiest commuting routes recently cleared the West Main Street site of all structures and trees, although a court challenge trying to stop the development has yet to be resolved.
The local battle over the doughnut shop has been playing out as thousands of miles away, customers lined up for hours to get doughnuts and coffee at the chain’s Santa Monica store, only its second in California.
The town’s approval of the development has been appealed by a neighbor, who argues that local officials inappropriately OK’d the high-volume business for the site, even though it will steer customer traffic onto a residential street. According to town officials, the development cannot move ahead until the case is resolved in the state’s Land Court.
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That legal process, begun late last year, could take several more months to reach trial, said attorney Jonathan Finkelstein, who filed the appeal on behalf of the neighbor.
Despite the lawsuit, the owner, V. Sardinha Realty Trust, decided to move ahead and clear the site at 78 W. Main St., including razing an old barn and a vacant house, because the structures were unsafe, said Michael Healy, an attorney who represents the property owner, which would also own the Dunkin’ Donuts franchise.
Hopkinton already has a Dunkin’ Donuts on South Street, about a mile away, as well as one inside a Mobil station farther down West Main Street. The gas station’s doughnut store, which is owned by the same family that wants to open a store at 78 W. Main St., could be moved once the new location is available, according to Healy.
Neither of the existing doughnut stores has a drive-through. And the one proposed at 78 W. Main won’t have one either. But neighbors say it is an inappropriate location, because it is close to homes and will rely on a residential street for one of its parking lot entrances.
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According to files at Town Hall, the store will be a single-story, 3,000-square-feet building, and will have driveways onto both West Main Street and High Street, a short street that connects to Elm Street.
Its location on West Main Street is a high-profile entrance to Hopkinton, directly off Interstate 495.
A traffic analysis prepared for the property owner found that the store would generate 210 vehicle trips an hour during peak hours on weekday mornings.
According to Healy, the trees were cleared from the lot last week because it made it easier for heavy equipment operators to safely remove the old barn and house. Eventually new landscaping will be placed on the site, once it is graded for development, he said.
“The landscaping will be looking much better than it was [before] we took down the house,” Healy said. None of the landscaping will be planted until the lawsuit is resolved, he said.
Hopkinton does not have an ordinance that prevents the cutting of trees on private property. The razing of the site was approved through a demolition permit, which was issued by the town Sept. 4.
Neighbors who had fought the development when it was approved by the town’s boards were angered again when the trees on the site came down.
Amanda Faucher lives in a ranch house on Elm Street that is next door to the proposed doughnut shop.
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Her house faces Elm Street and High Street, which will become an access road for the business, and sits less than 40 feet away from the proposed Dunkin’ Donuts site. Her landlord filed the lawsuit in Land Court against the development.
Because West Main Street has a raised median, customers coming to the Dunkin’ Donuts from I-495 cannot enter the parking area from that direction and will have to use Elm Street. That puts the store’s traffic in front of the house, starting at 4:30 a.m., she said.
“Every single car that comes out on Elm Street will go by that house,” Finkelstein said.
The proposed location is in a rural business district. In its approval of the site plan, the Planning Board cited the retail establishment as an allowed use in that district.
The lawsuit, filed by Finkelstein on behalf of Coco Bella LLC, which owns the neighboring house, said the business is not allowed because the town had specified that restaurants permitted in the rural business district are “where all customers are seated,” rather than the take-out business of a Dunkin’ Donuts.
Faucher, who said she and her neighbors argued unsuccessfully before the Planning Board against approval of the doughnut shop, said the board did not protect the neighbors’ interests.
“In their minds, it was already decided,” she said.
Mary MacDonald can be reached at marymacdonald3
@aol.com.