Medfield Planning Board Unanimously Approves CVS Expansion

Medfield's Planning Board unanimously approved the site renovation/expansion plan for the Main Street with just a few conditions Monday's public hearing at .

Those conditions were the installation of historic pole lighting to match the lights of neighbor and complement Baxter Park, a limit of one tenant, CVS, in the entirety of the building, tractor trailer deliveries restricted to midnight to 6 a.m. and snow storage in the front of the building not to exceed four feet in height.

at its previous two hearings were addressed. The board said the new configuration of the site at the corner of Routes 109 and 27 will be a vast improvement.

“I think in every respect it’s going to be better than what’s there now,” said Planning Board member Elissa Franco. 

CVS plans to fully occupy the 555 Main Street building, including the space currently leased by add a two-lane drive-thru, restructure the parking lot, and reconfigure the entrances to the site. 

Monday’s 45-minute hearing was the last in a series that has been continued to address outstanding issues, including accident history and traffic flow at the busy intersection. 

Planning Board clerk, Norma Cronin, shared a report from Medfield Chief of Police Robert Meaney Jr., who said there have been 24 accidents in that area over four years, five of them inside the CVS parking lot.

“That [number] will hopefully be less because this is a better plan,” said Franco.  “This is a better configuration; this will be better.”

Phil Henry, a civil engineer with R.J. O’Connell Associates representing CVS, said a traffic count showed that only one or two cars would be waiting to turn into the new parking lot.

“At most, you’re only going to have one car in queue there during the week, and mid-day Saturday you’re only going to have two cars at the most,” said Henry. 

Planning Board member Keith Diggans said: “This new entrance is better because it is further from the intersection … I think it does improve the movement around that intersection a lot.”

There will be a Right Turn Only from Route 109 westbound, and No Left Turn from Route 109 eastbound.

The parking lot will be restriped and landscaped. There will be five bollards in front of the store and lighting will be a combination of wall packs affixed to building, commercial 22-foot-tall shoebox lighting in the parking lot, as well as historic-styled lighting in the front of the lot.

Planning Board chairman Wright Dickinson asked if all lights in the front could be decorative, but Henry said the historic lights do not provide the candle power of a commercial light.

At the suggestion of Town Historian Richard DeSorgher, three decorative pole lights will closely match those of neighboring Palumbo Liquors, which were recently installed.

“It would be nice if it was consistent,” said DeSorgher, noting Palumbo’s lights were installed about two years ago. 

DeSorgher, the sole audience member at Monday’s hearing, thanked CVS for working closely with the town throughout the process.

“This really is one of the most visible sections of town and they really have the opportunity to be a good neighbor … I just wanted to commend CVS for working with the town to try to improve the look of that area,” said DeSorgher. 

Henry said a 44-foot-wide drive-thru area will allow enough room for two cars to fit comfortably behind the building.  The lanes will be separated by a raised concrete island and the outside lane will be 10 feet wide to accommodate larger vehicles. Henry said the average vehicle is six feet wide.

The board had concerns that large snow banks on the site would cause site line problems. CVS agreed to pile snow in the areas behind and beside the building before using the area in front of the building.  If the area in front is used, the pile should be no higher than four feet.

“We’re not going to have a Natick Mall hill …That’s what we don’t want to have,” said Dickinson.

Henry said CVS will also install a black chain link fence beside the guard rail fence as requested by the Conservation Commission and will retain and replace if necessary, the stockade fence behind the building.

The plan was approved by the full Planning Board, including Dickinson, Diggans, Franco, Stephen Browne, and Gordon Lester.

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