STOP THE CHELMSFORD MALL DRIVETHRU DISASTER

Website Launch Announcement

“Stop the Chelmsford Mall Drivethru Disaster” is a website set up in order to raise public awareness of a plan by the new owner of the Chelmsford Mall, Winstanley Enterprises, to redevelop the site to include two drivethru “fast casual” restaurants on the upper parking lot pad sites by the main entrance. Most of us know the Chelmsford Mall at 265 Chelmsford St as the “Kohl’s Plaza”.

Similar proposals have come before the Board in the past regarding putting drivethrus at the Chelmsford Mall from the previous owner, however it’s very clear that this is once again surfacing as Winstanley is seeking to increase the Return on Investment from their December 2024 purchase of the mall.

A growing number of residents are concerned about the negative impacts such a development would have on the character of Chelmsford and our Westlands neighborhood, as well as those trying to commute or run errands on Rt-110.

Winstanley will require special permits from the Chelmsford Planning Board to place drivethrus there. This is important because development of drivethrus here is not by right, and the Board has the power to reject the applicant.

Approximately a dozen Chelmsford residents came out to speak against this plan over the course of one hour of public comment at the July 9th Planning Board meeting. At the conclusion of the meeting, Adam Winstanley indicated he may be reconsidering the Drivethru Disaster in light of public concerns, however correspondence from his lawyer on July 15th indicated they plan to continue pressing ahead with the project. The next scheduled meeting is August 13th.

While all Planning Board agendas and meetings are public, often the content of these is poorly disseminated to affected residents. It is imperative that Chelmsford residents who have concerns about the Chelmsford Mall development spread the word among friends and neighbors, and most importantly, show up to the Planning Board meetings when this topic is on the agenda to let the Board know how this project will impact you.

This website, www.stopchelmsfordmall.org, will be updated as soon as practical when new information is available. It is the intent that the tabs on the home page will contain a complete collection of all past and current known information on this proposal.

Residents can sign up via email on the home page of this site to receive announcements of new posts, which will include reminders of upcoming Planning Board meetings, and major developments from recent meetings regarding the Drivethru Disaster.

Admin

3 responses to “Website Launch Announcement”

  1. Avatar
    Anonymous

    Winstanley is the typical out-of-town commercial RE company that ends up ruining a town because they don’t understand the unintended consequences of their actions. Look at their property in Chelmsford Center and how difficult it is to enter and egress during rush hour. It is still VERY difficult to enter from the library in the middle of the day as well. Unfortunately, most of the town boards (but the planning board especially) have members who also cannot relate are lazy and fail to fight (look at the childcare facility going in on Rt 4 as an example – the traffic is similarly backed up at rush hours). In this particular case, my suggestion is that you bring hard facts to the next meeting: 1. bring pictures of how bad the traffic is at rush hour on Chelmsford Street. I personally have seen traffic backed up from Rt 3 all the way to the liquor store MANY times. I avoid that area whenever I can, but I understand the local residents cannot, and that stinks. Date and Time Stamp the photos and bring multiple photos to show that the backup is not just a fluke, You need to win over the minds of the planning board, with tangible facts, not argumentative heresay. 2. check the CPD records and identify the existing traffic matters in the Westlands and cross reference it to times of day, if possible. and 3. identify and present “drive through traffic statistics”…every fast food/fast casual restaurant will be able to tell you the times of day they are really busy, and then overlap those results with the traffic pictures you have taken. >>> The planning board is NOT our friend. They are chartered with finding ways how to bring new revenues into the town. If the Planning Board goes through with it (which they will), make sure the neighborhood has BATNA terms — specific, unmutable demands — more crosswalks, better lighting, adding “no through traffic 5pm-7pm” signage, etc… Good Luck.

    Reply
    1. Ann Avatar
      Ann

      I just became aware of this proposal today and am VERY interested in learning more about it. I read everything that I could find on my computer as soon as I got home from an errand at Staples about an hour ago. As far as I’m concerned, the Chelmsford Mall had problems for years. The original owner was not truthful with the Planning Board regarding promised plans many years ago. And so, the saga continues. I will look up the Board’s minutes for recent meetings to try to get up to speed. What does BTNA stand for? Thanks

      Reply
      1. Admin Avatar
        Admin

        Hi Ann, I’m fairly certain the two videos of past Planning Board sessions discussing the mall (linked in the Timeline tab of this website), and the documents uploaded to the latest Planning Board Agenda consists of all the public information that we have about this project. You should be able to get up to speed pretty quickly.

        I’m not familiar with an acronym “BTNA”.

        Reply

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