Developers Withdraw Special Permit Application for Finnerty's Site

The developers of 150 Main St., in Cochituate, also known as the Finnerty's site, have informed the town planner that they want to withdraw, without prejudice, their application for special permits related to parking and signage at the site.

Developers Matthew Levy and Jesse Adelman spent months in Design Review Board and Planning Board hearings on the way to site plan approval for a project that features two buildings: one, a CVS and the other, a mixed-use building expected to house a restaurant and some additional retail space on the first floor and office space on the second. The total approved project consists of 27,374 square feet of commercial space.

The next step appeared to be a special permit hearing before the Planning Board during which Adelman and Levy would request permission to construct fewer parking spaces than Wayland's bylaw requires for the square footage on the site and larger signage than is permitted by right.

But those next steps are being put on hold for now, Town Planner Sarkis Sarkisian said, as it was discovered the developers need to obtain Zoning Board of Appeals approval for the outdoor seating planned at the site's restaurant.

"Our bylaws sometimes kind of send you in circles as to which board you need to be in front of," Sarkisian said. "This is a case where there’s no trigger for the ZBA, but later we found that the outdoor seating, and specifically the restaurant, would require a special permit [from the ZBA] because of where the restaurant would be located on the lot."

Sarkisian explained that the restaurant is proposed for a different position on the site than where the current Finnerty's building sits and therefore could require zoning approval, though Wayland's bylaw doesn't make that entirely clear.

What is clear, Sarkisian said, is that zoning approval is needed for the outdoor seating, so the developers have decided to seek their remaining special permits through the ZBA rather than the Planning Board.

"The ZBA will basically be issuing all the special permits," Sarkisian said, adding that the board can put conditions on those special permits, but "Can they flat out deny it? It's very difficult with a special permit."

The site plan the Planning Board already approved remains an approved site plan, Sarkisian said.

And it's certainly the plan that Levy and Adelman want to see on the site.

"We'd like to build the two buildings still," Adelman said. "That was our vision and we have a tenant that we’re excited about. It adds amenities that we think are missing in Wayland, and we think it more embodies the spirit of what a village should look like."

The plans have not yet been submitted, but Sarkisian said that he has been informed that the developers intend to submit new plans featuring only one building on the site, a standalone CVS.

That plan would then go through the DRB and Planning Board process and would likely be a "by right" plan that requires no special permits.

Sarkisian said that he understands there are people who don't want to see a CVS on the site, but "We can’t control that."

It is possible to have two separate site plans approved for a single site, Sarkisian said, so the developers can have feasibly have both one-building and two-building plans approved. They would select a plan when obtain their building permits for construction.

Dates have not yet been finalized for either the ZBA hearing or, assuming a one-building plan is submitted, the DRB and Planning Board discussions for that plan.