Proposed Changes at McDonald's Lead to Long Public Hearing
On Wednesday, November 16, the Winchendon Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals met for a joint public hearing on proposed changes to the McDonald's restaurant located at 235 Spring Street. Although no citizens in attendance raised objections to the plan, the discussion among Board members ran for nearly two hours.
Daniel Allen from Bohler Engineering, Inc., the civil engineer for the project, introduced himself as representing McDonald's as the applicant. He began by describing the current facility: a 3,100 square foot building with a drive-through service incorporating three stations. Drivers stop at an order point on the west side of the building where there are boards displaying the menu items, and give their order to a staff person through a speaker. They then circle around to the east side and pay at a cashier's window, and then stop at a second window to pick up their food. There are three driveways on the lot. One is enter-only and two, onto Cross Street and onto Spring Street, are exit-only. Both exits divide at the end with arrows marking a left-turn and a right-turn lane.
"What McDonald's is proposing to do is add a second order point and the second lane with the intent to improve their existing drive-through operations that exists out there today. The intention with the dual order points is to improve the efficiency of the drive-through to provide increased staffing as well as reduced customer wait times," Mr. Allen said. "Think about it, with the single order point, say you have a car full of a soccer team coming in and they need to make like six orders. They're gonna hold that traffic with stacking which will back up. The second order point allows, say that van comes in making that order, allows drive-through operations to continue in that second lane. So somebody pulls up, they see the cars taking a while, they can pull around and go to the second order point. So drive-through operations continue moving. It just really helps with that traffic flow."
The second order point will be a standing unit under a canopy beside, and parallel to, the current order station. The drive will split into two rows and then recombine to a single lane circling the building to the cashier's window.
Traffic stacking as it currently exists at McDonald's.
copyright © Bohler Engineering
Traffic stacking with proposed second order station.
copyright © Bohler Engineering
Each order point will have a primary menu board. A secondary "pre-browse" menu board will be moved to a spot on the building exterior closer to Spring Street. The handicapped spaces will remain in the same location as they are now.
Planning Board Chair Guy Corbosiero questioned whether the handicapped spaces should be moved, as the drive through lanes, when backed up, blocked the spaces. Mr. Allen did not think it was feasible.
There was much discussion about the traffic on Spring Street and the difficulty of customers making a left-hand turn onto Spring Street. Planning Board member Burt Gould said that cars are sometimes parked out on Spring Street waiting to get into McDonald's. Acting Director of Planning and Development Nicole Roberts said that she had received an email from Winchendon Chief of Police Dan Wolski saying, "I feel is important to note that it is impossible for me to provide a fully educated comment on this. However, I also understand the request for my input to some extent is derived merely as a matter of courtesy...with that said after looking at the plans briefly I do not foresee any issues with this project."
Mr. Allen said, "I think the second order point isn't really anticipated to be a generator of traffic, it's really just to better manage the existing traffic coming to the site." Currently, about nine cars can fit in the queue for the order point, the second order point will allow for about five more. He also pointed out that there should be parking spaces for customers on the lot, they don't have to park on Spring Street.
Jean Christie, senior engineer at Tighe & Bond, rose to say, "I asked this exact question to a traffic engineer at our firm, wanting to know if adding another ordering point is expected to increase the number of vehicle trips coming in, and the Institute for Transportation engineer, their traffic or trip generation manual at this point does not distinguish between a single drive-through or multiple drive-throughs. So they're saying it's limited by the kitchen." No changes are planned for the kitchen capacity or building interior.
Ms. Roberts also stated that Winchendon Fire Department Deputy Chief Bryan Vaine had "no issue" with the project, and expressed no concerns with proposed changes affecting any fire access or emergency response.
Resident Tom Carrier, who lives at 236 Spring Street across from McDonald's, rose to say, "what they've done, has been working, except for people coming into McDonald's from Spring Street and they're backing up literally into the street. I firmly believe that what you guys have proposed will alleviate a lot of that issue." He added that there was a NO PARKING sign on Spring Street by McDonald's and "literally last week" it was knocked out of its concrete base by a tractor trailer and was at that moment lying on the ground. Mr. Carrier also raised the question of a crosswalk on Spring Street at that point, saying that people wait ten to fifteen minutes to cross to McDonald's. He pointed out that the sidewalk on his side of Spring Street has a curb cut for a crosswalk, but no crosswalk is painted. "I agree with what McDonald's is trying to do," he said.
Ms. Roberts said that she had the original Special Permit, dated October 3, 1991, for the construction of the McDonald's, and it specified as conditions that "there will be a NO PARKING sign on either side, Spring Street and from Spring Street down to Cross Street to the point beyond the rear entrance-slash-exit drive to keep free flow of traffic available...there will be a stop sign placed to the end of Cross Street where it joins Spring Street. Number three, that a well-lit crosswalk be marked on Spring Street allowing pedestrians access to and from the other side of Spring Street and the erection of signs STOP FOR PEDESTRIANS and CROSSWALK or the equivalent be placed in a manner to allow operators clear view of the signs with ample time to take appropriate action."
Briefly joining the hearing via speaker phone, Department of Public Works Director Brian Croteau told the Boards that a crosswalk cannot be put in because legally, crosswalks must go from sidewalk to sidewalk, and there is no sidewalk on the McDonald's side of Spring Street. "Hopefully with time next year, we can install that short piece of sidewalk and connect it there. There is no plan to put a sidewalk in front of McDonald's, if McDonald's wants to put a sidewalk in, we can work through that. We're just going to make it so you can cross from Spring Street to Cross [Street]."
The Planning Board closed their hearing but the Zoning Board of Appeals continued discussion. ZBA Chair Cynthia Carville asked Ms. Roberts to read the 1991 Special Permit in its entirety. The ZBA members discussed the conditions in that 31 year old permit which McDonald's currently was, or was not, in compliance with.
Mr. Allen said that construction of the proposed second order point was planned for the beginning of next April. Ms. Roberts said, "we have time, so we could potentially have them put on the drawing board and have them finish that corner, have them put the crosswalk signs and the pedestrian signs, make sure the NO PARKING signs are up, and resubmit a site plan. We'll have Jean review it from Tighe & Bond. And then we'll do this all over again, possibly in the next meeting or two."
She continued, "And that way we can have all our ducks in a row and have on the plans exactly what Mr. Gould is requesting, and as well as finish off that sidewalk to make it safe, even though it did not have a sidewalk in the original plan. It makes sense to have one, especially, as Mr. Carrier was saying, that people use the green space when they're at McDonald's. I think it'd be safer because more and more people walk these days, to make it safe to walk across to McDonald's. So we can propose that just maybe revisit the site plans and put the crosswalks and finish that spot off, put the NO PARKING signs up, put the pedestrian signs up, and then we'll have another joint meeting."
After further discussion, the ZBA voted to continue their hearing. The Planning Board decided to defer voting on the application and any conditions until their next meeting, which at that time was scheduled for December 6, but later was postponed.
Volunteers Wanted at the Beals Memorial Library
If you like to help the community or are looking to complete some community service hours, then reach out to the Beals Memorial Library. The library seeks volunteers to help move library operations into the basement space in preparation for their upcoming infrastructure project, set to begin this January.
The project will include updating the library's antiquated electrical system and installing a new fire suppression system. Due to the extent of this project, the library must relocate operations to their basement level, which means that they will need to pack up the library, move furniture, and get everything needed to run the library set up in a short span of time so that they can still serve their community while construction is ongoing. Since this will be such a big project, the library is seeking volunteers ages 14 and above to help out with the move.
On Monday, December 19, at 6:00 p.m., there will be a meeting open to all volunteers to go over the logistics of the move. Then, from Tuesday, December 20, through Thursday, December 22, the library and volunteers will be working on moving and setting up the basement from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., as well as on Friday, December 23, if needed. Volunteers can come at any point during those time periods to lend a hand, just notify the library of your availability and when they can expect you. A town waiver against liability will be required to be signed to participate.
The Beals Memorial Library is located at 50 Pleasant Street in Winchendon. If you are interested in helping out or would like more information about the upcoming infrastructure project, please contact the library at 978-297-0300 or email at bealsmemoriallibrary@gmail.com.
Physician offers advice for 'tripledemic' protection during holiday gatherings
WORCESTER, Mass. - The start of the holiday season has long coincided with the start of cold and flu season in Massachusetts, and the past couple of years have also brought serious concerns due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This year, conditions seem ripe for what many have coined a "tripledemic": a convergence of the flu, COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). The experts at American Family Care (AFC) in Worcester want residents to understand the risks and the steps they can take to protect themselves.
"We know there is a significant amount of 'COVID-fatigue' as we enter our third year of the pandemic, but vigilance is still important, both to protect those most at risk of developing complications and to minimize the impact on our health care system," said Dr. Vincent Meoli, AFC's regional medical director for Massachusetts. "Unfortunately, we are already seeing high rates of hospitalizations due to RSV this year, and there is a strong potential for a tough flu season as well."
Dr. Meoli offers the following advice to help minimize the spread of illness this holiday season:
- Get the annual flu shot; it's not too late for those who haven't
- Get the COVID-19 vaccine and boosters as recommended
- Wash and dry hands thoroughly and often
- Maintain social distancing and/or wear masks, especially in large, indoor gatherings
- Get tested immediately at the start of symptoms
- Stay home if you have symptoms of any illness--including fever, coughing, sneezing, runny nose, aches, chills, fatigue--which all of these viruses have in common
- Regularly disinfect surfaces and high-touch areas like doorknobs and faucets
Dr. Meoli noted that for those who are attending gatherings--especially with people at high risk for COVID-19 like the elderly, children or who are immunocompromised--testing for COVID-19 the day before or the day of the gathering can provide some extra reassurance.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) also advise testing (either with a rapid antigen test or PCR-based test in a laboratory) immediately with the start of symptoms. For people exposed to COVID-19 but who have no symptoms, they recommend waiting five full days to test to avoid inaccurate results.
"Talk to a health care provider if you have any concerns about vaccines, symptoms or testing," said Dr. Meoli. "COVID-19, flu and RSV all have the potential for complications, hospitalization or death."
The American Family Care staff in Worcester offers convenient, walk-in care seven days a week for patients of all ages, including flu vaccines and testing, diagnostic rapid tests and antigen tests for COVID-19, urgent care, physicals, stitches for cuts and lacerations and on-site x-rays.
About AFC Worcester
Locally owned and operated, AFC in Worcester is a physician-staffed provider of urgent care, occupational medicine, and other non-emergency health care. The facility features a high-tech, high-touch approach, including digital x-rays, on-site lab testing, state-of-the-art diagnostics and electronic medical records. The clinic is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. during the week and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends, with no appointments necessary. Visit afcurgentcare.com/Worcester for more information.
About American Family Care:
Founded by Dr. Bruce Irwin with a single location in 1982, American Family Care has pioneered the concept of convenient, patient-centric healthcare. Today, with more than 250 clinics and 800 in-network physicians caring for over 6 million patients a year, AFC is the nation's leading provider of urgent care, accessible primary care and occupational medicine. Ranked by Inc. magazine as one of the fastest-growing companies in the U.S., AFC's stated mission is to provide the best healthcare possible, in a kind and caring environment, while respecting the rights of all patients, in an economical manner, at times and locations convenient to the patient. For more information, visit americanfamilycare.com.
