Greetings,
A very quick message to inform that this evening, the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) approved the requested special permits for a multi-screen movie theater at Hobbs Brook.
In addition, the ZBA approved the requested special permit for a medical device research and development facility to be located at the former Hebert Candies at River Road and Route 15.
Though this does not complete the process for these projects, nor ensure their fruition, it is nonetheless a significant milestone for each.
As additional pertinent information becomes available, I will make effort to update if/as necessary.
--
Respectfully,
TRC
Respectfully,
TRC
How many screens will the proposed theater have? One concern that i hope is being raised is the traffic backups on Rt 20 primarily heading east. The left turn lane to enter the plaza is way too short. Would widening rt 20 in that section be needed? At what cost would something like that be done and who would flip the bill for it? I'm for a theater in town, but want to know more about it as the traffic situation in that area is dangerous as it, let alone when you add the masses when a new Harry Potter movie opens up.
ReplyDeleteIn my earlier post I wrote that the theater will have 8 screens. The traffic situation is always a concern, and a study was done in 2009. According to the town, the study showed the current traffic situation could handle additional volume. I am sure there will be high volume times, and like the theses in Millbury there may be need for a traffic cop.
ReplyDeleteDoes the mall in Millbury pay for the police officers? I have often wondered that.
ReplyDeleteI think a jug-handle turn would be a big help.
ReplyDeleteSitting at a red light the way it is right now with traffic buzzing by like a buzz saw is both frightening and dangerous.
The plaza has been a great help for our family and a movie theater in the area would be nice, but movie theater or not something needs to be done about the traffic pattern.
The traffic "cops" at Millbury are not town police officers. I believe they are private. Town police direct traffic on public roads.
ReplyDeleteSomething needs to be done for sure. However, could you imagine the size of a jug handle needed to control that much traffic.
ReplyDeleteIf not a jug handle, what? Let's put our heads together. Who has another idea? Slowing traffic in that area might help some. I always feel like we're sitting there like a target when we wait at that light.
ReplyDeletetraffic will be a problem it is now traffic can be backed up on rte.20 to the truck stop..go to the Planning Board meeting to ask about the traffic and parking
ReplyDeleteHave you ever seen a traffic study that was accurate?
ReplyDeleteWouldn't a jug handle work if only the traffic going into the plaza used it?
ReplyDeleteWhen i think of a jug handle i think of the turn on Rt 20 just past Yankee spirits that takes you to the village. It is effective at that location. A jug handle for Hobbes brook would have to be two lanes wide and likely have to start before the gas station to accommodate enough vehicles. Also prior to the jug handle a third lane should be added so people waiting to get into the jug handle would not be stopped on Rt 20. However, there would also be an increase in traffic coming from the west. The entrance to the plaza would have to be widened since the traffic entering from the east would have to wait for the jug handle light to turn red. They would be backup up on Rt 20 westbound creating another traffic situation. Once they get the traffic situation under control i am looking forward to heading to the movies and if the stars align for us maybe an Olive Garden will be in our future :)
ReplyDeleteThe traffic wii increase, but not the amount you are fearing. It's an 8 screen theater. A small one. This isn't a moon landing, just taking an unused space and using it again. The study showed the road cold handle it, and the state, and town are extremely finicky whe I comes to studies and results. Just relax, sit back and enjoy the show.
ReplyDeleteI think we all need to look at this as something positive, We've been hit with too much negative in town over the past year. This is something we all have wanted for too long.
ReplyDeleteI'm really glad a cinema is in the works; with development comes traffic but which would you rather have - no cinema or no traffic? I agree that is a scary intersection, and I'm amazed that more than one super-accident hasn't happened there.
ReplyDeleteOne concern I do have with a cinema however, is the fact that parents like to drop kids off and leave them there. Have you been to the Millbury cinema after 9pm? It's like teenager alley: swearing, spitting, throwing and/or dropping food, vandalism - Old Sturbridge Village stopped showing movies for that very reason, because parents dropped their kids off and didn't come back for a few hours. It's like cinema-babysitting.
I, too, would like to see a movie theater, and an Olive Garden at that plaza, and even a Taco Bell someplace in town. The traffic situation at the lights by that plaza is dangerous with or without these places coming in. 'Seems like we should at least find some way to lower the speed limit. I suppose the state would have to have a say in that, though.
ReplyDeleteThis IS something positive. Keeping it safe is also something positive.
ReplyDeleteI think that the plaza and the location can definitely handle more business and more traffic, in terms of the basic area of the plaza. But I also agree that the entrance to the plaza is a bit ridiculous. I can't understand why there is only one route into and out of the plaza, and why the plaza is set up in a railroad fashion. The Millbury shops have the same issue. Whatever is done about the in/out route from Rt. 20, the traffic inside the plaza is also going to become worse and would be improved upon if another route were added.
ReplyDelete