By Joan F. Simoneau, Community Reporter
Marlborough – In 2009, the Marlborough City Council approved a special permit for an ATM at the new Marlborough Savings Bank at 81 Granger Blvd. In doing so, it restricted the hours of use by prohibiting them between midnight and 5 a.m. The permit allowed reconsideration of those hours when at least a year had passed.
With more than a year of service, Attorney Sem Aykanian asked the City Council Feb. 27 to revise the restrictions so the bank can operate the drive-through teller service from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., and the drive-through ATM 24 hours a day.
In the request sent to Marlborough Commissioner Stephen F. Reid, Richard J. Bennett, bank president and CEO, said: “Due to the ATM behind [bank location] 166 Main Street not complying with the new ADA legislation which takes affect this March, it's important to increase the hours to 24 hours a day. Marlborough Savings has done everything possible to accommodate the neighbors including: eliminating certain lights around the perimeter, lowered the volume on the ATM, and had numerous discussions with vendors concerning snow plowing and trash pick-up.”
Lawmakers set Monday, March 26, for a public hearing and referred the issue to the Urban Affairs Committee.
In other business, the council accepted a communication from Melanson Development Group Inc., owners of the home once occupied by former Mayor Frank D. Walker, his wife, Mercedes, and daughter, Celeste Walker, of Jamaica Plain. They are seeking council permission to use a half-acre city-owned sewer easement as part of an open space development of the home and its nearly five surrounding acres.
The 93-acre Framingham Road estate has been the topic of at least two conceptual development plans in 2010 and 2011, both of which included remodeling the Walker House itself into condominiums.
If the special permit, now pending, is successful, the owners will ask the council to modify the language so the Melanson Corporation will have a “fee interest” in the easement.
