WESTFIELD – Members of the planning Board continued to tweak traffic movements for the Dunkin Donut project proposed for construction at the corner of North Road and Old County Road this week and anticipate voting on the special permit petition at their Oct. 20, 2015 session.
The primary focus of discussion has been the movement of motor vehicles into and through the site, leading to a number of changes to the proposed site plan presented by Rob Levesque of R. Levesque Associates for the Sardinia family, who hold the Westfield franchise for Dunkin Donuts.
Levesque said several changes have been made to the site plan following the Sept. 15 discussion and that stacking lanes within the site have been extended and curb cuts on both North Road and Old County Road modified as requested by the board members.
The access from Old Country Road will have one dedicated entry point near the intersection of North Road and one dedicate exit allowing both left and right turning movements onto Old County Road.
Board members were divided on the limits for the North Road entry and exit, with several members wanting to prohibit left turns from the eastbound lane of North Road into the site and left turns from the site onto the eastbound lane of North Road.
The reason for that concern is the volume of traffic at that intersection and the speed at which motorists travel that section of road, which is a curve. One concern is that vegetation along the side of the road would prevent motorists approaching the intersection to see the vehicles stopped at the traffic light and in the area of the store.
“The left turn out of the site onto North Road looks like a potential problem,” Jane Magarian said.
The members supported a right turn into the site and a right turn out for the North Road curb cut, eliminating movements requiring cars to cross a lane of traffic.
Levesque said the left turn movement from North Road into the store site is to accommodate motorists turning right of East Mountain Road which is directly across the intersection from Old County Road.
Levesque said the configuration of the building has been modified to provide greater stacking of vehicle while customers are waiting to place or get orders. Vehicle stacking was another concern of the board because of concern that if adequate stacking was not provided within the site, vehicles would back up onto North Road waiting to get into the store site.
Levesque said the modified plan has stacking space for 22 vehicles and also provides stacking lanes for vehicles exiting the site.
