ZBA approves plan l for corner of Cottage, South streets
By Ken Powers Community Reporter

Westborough - In the coming months, residents and visitors to town are going to have a new spot to do their banking and be able to visit a old favorite in a diff erent location.

The Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) approved at its Dec. 17 meeting, with conditions, a spe- cial permit and a site plan for the two lots adjacent to the intersection of Cottage and South streets.

The plans for the re-configuration of the corner were brought to the ZBA by Dave L'Ecuyer, chief executive officer of Central One Federal Credit Union.

L'Ecuyer plans to remove the four existing structures on the corner, most notably the building that houses the South Street Diner. Also to be demolished are a garage behind the diner and two buildings that were once residential structures that had been converted into retail space. One houses a hair salon, while the other was formerly a yarn shop.

In their places, a pair of structures will be erected: a two-story building that will house a branch office of Central One Federal Credit Union and a single-story structure that will be the new home of the South Street Diner.

The credit union building will be on the corner of Cottage and South streets, where the diner is now, while the diner will move about 100 feet up South Street toward the rotary.

The conditions laid out in the ZBA's approval require a final review and approval of the South Street Diner building by the town's Design Review Board, followed by a final approval of the building by ZBA Chair Don Gillis.

"I'm excited to have the project moving forward," L'Ecuyer said. "I think it going to be a great addition to downtown Westborough. We'll be able to have a presence downtown and at the same time provide a new spot for a town landmark that people in town as well as many others in surrounding communities know very well."

L'Ecuyer originally appeared before the ZBA at its Dec. 10 meeting, and while approval was granted on the majority of the project, the ZBA sent back to the Design Review Board the plans for the new diner building.

"We just didn't like the look of the building," ZBA member John Rainey said. "We didn't feel like it fit with the look of downtown. It was a square block of a building with a flat roof. I'm just not a fan of a one-story building with a flat roof."

Dennis Callahan, chair of the Design Review Board, explained to the ZBA that the board suggested that design for the new building because their understanding was it was supposed to look as much like the old building as possible.

"The old building was considered an anomaly structure and town bylaws state an anomaly structure should be replaced by an anomaly structure," Callahan explained.

Rainey disagreed.

"I understand that's what the bylaw says, but I don't think it means we should replace an ugly building with an ugly building," Rainey said. "I just don't want it to have a flat roof."

L'Ecuyer presented a modified drawing of the diner building, with a pitched roof and a more pronounced facade at the front of the building. It met with the approval of ZBA members Gillis, Rainey and Jim Johnson. Callahan, at first glance, said he thought it would be acceptable, too, but wanted the opportunity to bring it before the complete Design Review Board.