Value Place public hearing continues
By Melissa Muntz Community Reporter

Shrewsbury - After months of continuances, proponents for the Value Place Extended Stay Hotel have met with the Shrewsbury Planning Board to further discuss their proposal to place a hotel on the corner of Route 9 and Lake Street.

During a public hearing at the May 1 Planning Board meeting, developers said the project has been stalled while they determined how to best handle storm water management and address concerns the board had regarding landscaping, handicapped accessibility and traffic.

"The project would add one vehicle to the intersection every two minutes," said Value Place Traffic Consultant Bob Michaud, of Marlboroughbased MDM Transportation Consultants. "There are 3,000 to 4,000 vehicles there per hour now … and the impact of this project is not material in terms of adding delay or degrading safety."

Lake Street residents in attendance disagreed, saying that an entrance and exit onto Lake Street from the hotel would add even more pressure to an existing traffic problem.

The Value Place hotel would consist of 121 mini-suites in a 43,000-square-foot facility located on two acres of land, where a small home, garage and barn currently sit. The proposed location was rezoned from residential to commercial property by Town Meeting in 2006.

Value Place would off er accommodations to guests that would last anywhere from one week to several months or more.

The proposal has been met with criticism from abutters who said the large-scale building and expected hotel clientele don't fit with the residential layout of the neighborhood.

Following the presentation, the Planning Board once again continued the hearing, asking that proponents be prepared to discuss parking, snow storage, internal traffic flow and emergency vehicle access, open space, and building size when they come before the board Thursday June 5.

"We'd like to get closer to an end on this," Chair Melvin Gordon said.