BY SUSAN CLARK

Three retail plans – a proposed Kohl’s and restaurant off Kilton Road, fast food on Route 3 and an in-store Starbuck’s for Stop & Shop – could soon be approved for the town’s performance zone.

The Planning Board will hear the plans on Monday, Aug. 20, at 7 p.m., at the Bedford Meeting Room, BCTV Studios on Meetinghouse Road.

The 98,000-square-foot Kohl’s department store includes a 230-seat Texas Roadhouse restaurant and 487 parking spaces on 14.5 acres abutting the Stop & Shop/Home Goods shopping center on Kilton Road.

Though some may welcome a new store to the area, abutters along Ridgewood Road and Briston Court are concerned about noise, cooking odors from the proposed restaurant, increased traffic and unacceptable setbacks.

They are asking that the Planning Board to carefully consider not granting building setbacks, parking or landscaping waivers.

“Critical for maintaining quality of life for Ridgewood residents are high-grade containment berming topped with fencing and landscaping, not only along Ridgewood Road but also along the Ridgewood Association property line,” said John and Victoria Maxwell in a July 16 letter to planners.

Over the past 20 years, the association has also spent money maintaining the landowner’s property, said the Maxwells. They now ask the board to require the landowner, John. B. Sullivan, to rebuild his portion of Ridgewood Road.

“Mr. Sullivan’s portion of the road suffers from badly maintained pavement with an inadequate sub-base as well as poor drainage, and frequently ices over in winter,” said the Maxwells.

According to town zoning, the area around the proposed Kohl’s department is in the performance zone – including the abutting senior housing homes.

When the area was changed from commercial to performance zoning in 1993, the Ridgewood Condos retained apartment-residential zone status.

“Our property is not a business but where we come home to and live, along with more than 170 other families in Ridgewood,” they said.

A traffic study was conducted in 1999 prior to the state’s construction of the Route 101/Kilton Road interchange. However, the town could require that the eight-year old study be updated to evaluate actual traffic volumes.

The site contains wetland, including a pond and a stream, and a waiver would be required as the plan currently shows a retaining wall with a 30-foot wetland setback. The town requires a 50-foot setback.

Starbuck's

Stop & Shop on Kilton Road is asking planners to OK a 1,412-square-foot in-house Starbuck’s coffee area.
Starbuck’s will replace the existing Green Mountain coffee area at the store.

“The Planning Board has to hear (the application) for a parking waiver because the site is short 16 parking spaces,” said Town Planner Richard Sawyer.

Another Starbuck’s coffee shop is located in Target on Route 3, and was part of that store’s original plan, he said.

Fast food

Planners will also review plans for an unnamed, one-story 10,943-square-foot retail store and a 3,886-square-foot fast food restaurant on Route 3, directly across from Target/Lowe’s plaza.

The applicant, West Street Keene LLC, will provide 112 parking spaces on the 3.6-acre site.