Seven Villages, Janet Joakim

I watched a replay of a special Zoning Board of Appeals hearing the other night that had been set up to hear an ongoing issue.  The owners of Blanchard’s Liquors, currently located at the edge of the Mall on Rt. 28, purchased the old Knights of Columbus Hall on Rt. 28 in Centerville; two lots down from the newer CVS on the corner of Rt. 28 and Strawberry Hill Rd. an already busy and dangerous intersection. (shown in pink on the map the large green area is the school owned property that includes the middle school and the high school)

They must appear before Z.B.A. because this use, a 9600 + sq foot liquor store, needs a special permit. They plan to knock down the current building and build this new store, pave for the necessary parking and create the curb-cuts needed to accommodate over 1500 trips to and from a package store that will be open seven days a week.

Three town councilors from Centerville see this as a major burden on an already troubled traffic area, and will voice their concerns in a letter to the Z.B.A.

Often, these projects are approved and local residents don’t find out they can speak out against it until the developer is actually building the business. That is when councilors start to hear from local residents. We need to address this project BEFORE it’s approved, and that decision is drawing near.

In this recent televised Z.B.A. hearing the project was presented as supported by Barnstable Middle School officials. This is not true. The school committee reacted to portrayals that they supported the project by voting unanimously to oppose a liquor store on that property so close to both middle school and the high school. 

Currently this store is operating at the Cape Cod Mall with rear access through the mall and with the option of a traffic signaled intersection. It empties out onto Rt. 28 where the road is wider, allowing traffic to merge into moving traffic.  At the location in Centerville, the traffic would simply be turning in and out onto Continue reading a 9600 square foot liquor store on an already burdened route 28?…