Walgreens to be built in Southborough
By Ken Powers Contributing Writer

Southborough - The intersection of Route 9 and Oak Hill Road will, after all, be the site of a Walgreens Drug Store, the Planning Board voting unanimously to approve the site plan and special permits at its Nov. 7 meeting.

The special permits granted were for a low-impact development and a building in a village business district. The store, according to plans, is expected to be about 14,000 square feet.

The approval of the project didn't get off completely without issue, however, as Scott Weymouth, principal owner of Arista Development, the project developer, opened the meeting by amending the proposed hours of operation for the store.

Weymouth explained that he mistakenly told the Planning Board the store would open at 8:30 a.m., even though Walgreens officials had made it clear to him, he said, that the store would have a 7 a.m. opening time.

This development troubled some residents of the Fayville neighborhood, as it rekindled concerns about increased traffic in the area.

Former Southborough Selectman Roger Challen, who lives on Oak Hill Road, said the store will now open in the middle of the busiest traffic time of the morning.

One concern for both Planning Board members and residents was the ramifications of drives exiting the store onto Oak Hill Road. Cars will be permitted to enter the store's parking lot from both Oak Hill Road and Route 9, but they will only be permitted to leave the parking lot onto Oak Hill Road.

Project traffic engineer Ronald Muller, a vice president of Greenman-Pederson Inc., explained that cars will take a left out of the parking lot onto Oak Hill Road to go back to Route 9. Muller also pointed out that the project includes adding two lanes to Oak Hill Road where it intersects Route 9 to provide both left-turn and right-turn only lanes.

Resident Jim Colleary said denying Walgreens would not necessarily mean whatever development ends up there won't impact rushhour traffic.

"If Walgreens goes away, we could end up with an office building on that lot," Colleary said. "And I don't think you're going to tell them they can't open up at 7 a.m."

Weymouth, who has been shuttling between Southborough's Zoning Board of Appeals and its Planning Board for more than a year, said he hopes to begin construction in January 2008 and be finished by July 2008.