HADLEY — Town planners are worried that a proposed coffee shop near the Coolidge Bridge may cause a back-up of vehicles into the eastbound Route 9 travel lanes, as customers queue in the drive-thru lane.
“If this site is even half as successful as a Starbucks or Dunkin’ Donuts on selling coffee, your stacking is going to be way out onto Route 9, and that is totally unacceptable,” said Planning Board Chairman James Maksimoski during Tuesday’s public hearing on the redevelopment of 13 Russell St.
The concept for redevelopment of the former Lakeside Getty gas station was presented by Jeff Squire, a principal with the Berkshire Design Group of Northampton, on behalf of Triangle Properties LLC, also of Northampton.
Plans show a two-story building, with the tenant only identified as “independent coffee,” a single entrance from Route 9 to access a drive-thru lane that can accommodate 10 to 12 cars, limited on-site parking, and both an exit and entrance from Bay Road.
“The proposal is an independent drive-thru coffee stand,” Squire said, noting that the existing 900-square-foot building would be enlarged with a second floor for storage.
“This drive-thru coffee establishment seemed one way this property could be reused that would provide one benefit to driving into Hadley and cleaning up the site,” Squire said.
But Maksimoksi said he can’t support development plans that would likely impede traffic on the state highway.
“The bottom line is the way you’ve got it designed I can’t approve it,” Maksimoski said. He suggested he might be amenable to the project if the developer gets permission for the plans from the state’s Department of Transportation District 2 office.
Squire said the developer would give up one of two existing curb cuts on Route 9, but not the westernmost one, as closing that off would diminish the value of the property.
Planning Board member Mark Dunn said he would prefer to give the developer adjacent curb cuts on Bay Road, making that the main entrance and preventing the stacking of vehicles on Route 9.
The hearing will continue at the board’s Oct. 4 meeting.
Also returning to that meeting will be a representative from Taco Bell where changes are being planned for the exterior of the restaurant at 348 Russell St. The board put off a decision until then on new signs and an adjusted color scheme presented by Karissa Pankratz.
The changes include much more purple on the building, and a new image of a bell that makes it appear to be three-dimensional.
“We’re putting up the new brand ‘Bell’ sign,” Pankratz said.
Maksimoski said he isn’t concerned about the color, since the building is not in the town’s historic overlay district. But planners had reservations about new artwork that would be attached to the side of the building, put into an existing empty frame, due to the presence of another bell image.
“We will be updating the expression panel to actually have a mural,” Pankratz said, explaining that the design, with shades of purple and blue, is considered a camo print.
“I think it looks like graffiti,” board member Michael Sarsynski said.
Planners also learned from Amped-Up! Electric Rides owner Diane Kirby that she will be moving her business, opened at 299 Russell St. last spring, to a vacant storefront inside the Hampshire Mall near the Planet Fitness and JC Penney store.
As part of the move, Kirby will have to go to the Select Board to amend her class I license, and will no longer be able to display any of the equipment outdoors.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
