UPDATE: Planning Board Issues Site Plan Decision for Finnerty's Corner

[Update] The final, approved site plan is now attached to this article. Additionally, a PDF of the Planning Board's decision can be downloaded.

[Original article] Site plans for the redevelopment of 150 Main St., known as the Finnerty's property, got the green light, with modifications, from Wayland's Planning Board Tuesday night.

Board members voted 5-0 to approve the site plans, which call for two buildings to be constructed on the site -- one a CVS and the other a mixed-use building expected to house a restaurant and some additional retail space on the first floor and office space on the second. The total proposed project consists of 27,374 square feet of commercial space.

The approval comes after months of discussions about and redesigning of the project as well as its potential safety and traffic impacts.

“Anytime we do anything like this, it’s never perfect," board member Kevin Murphy said. "All of us on the board have tried as best we can to remove from the plan the things that we view as undesirable.

"I’ve never had an applicant come before the town that’s worked so hard to try and get what the town wanted," Murphy continued. "It’s never what we’d all like to have. But I think when we sit down and look at the bylaw we’re dealing with … the applicant in addressing all those concerns has met us pretty far along toward the middle."

At Tuesday's hearing, Planning Board members went through a list of 22 conditions of their site plan decision. Among the conditions, the hours of operation and service seemed to raise the greatest number of concerns among the standing-room-only crowd at the hearing.

Resident Arlene Schuler asked that weekend deliveries and trash removal be restricted to a greater degree than the decision outlined. The decision already restricted those maintenance-type activities so they could not occur between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. Schuler's comment led to an amendment further restricting those hours on weekends -- to not occurring between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m.

Questions related to the hours of business operation also came up, with the Planning Board's decision restricting retails hours of operation to between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m., and the restaurant's hours to between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m.

The board decided to approve the hours as listed in the decision, with the understanding that further restrictions could be established during the parking special permit process. The site requires a special permit related to parking space number and parking on residentially zoned property. Signage also remains up for approval. A hearing for both topics has been advertised for Feb. 5.

Additionally, a petitioners' article in Wayland's 2013 Annual Town Meeting Warrant asks voters to "authorize and direct" the Board of Selectmen, with approval of town counsel, to acquire the property at 150 Main Street by "purchase, gift, eminent domain or otherwise."

One of the lead petitioners, Jeff Horan, urged the Planning Board to defer issuing its site plan approval until after Town Meeting had voted on his article.

Board members, however, voted unanimously Tuesday to approve the decision as amended and with the listed conditions. (The decision is expected to be posted on the Town of Wayland website soon along with the updated and accurate site plans.)

Town Planner Sarkis Sarkisian said he will file the decision with the town clerk Wednesday at which point a 20-day appeal period begins.

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