Dunkin’ Donuts plan returns without Bristol Council's traffic study

The Zoning Board is scheduled to consider the controversial Gooding Plaza proposal Monday night

By Patrick Luce
Posted 12/8/16

A controversial proposal to build a free-standing Dunkin’ Donuts in Gooding Plaza is back on the Zoning Board’s agenda Monday, even though a traffic study the Town Council requested has …

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Dunkin’ Donuts plan returns without Bristol Council's traffic study

The Zoning Board is scheduled to consider the controversial Gooding Plaza proposal Monday night

Posted

A controversial proposal to build a free-standing Dunkin’ Donuts in Gooding Plaza is back on the Zoning Board’s agenda Monday, even though a traffic study the Town Council requested has not been done.

Christopher Prazeres, a Seekonk, Mass., resident who owns the existing Dunkin’ Donuts in the Hope Street plaza, asked the Bristol Zoning Board to give him a hearing on his proposal after the previous hearing was postponed indefinitely in September. Mr. Prazeres proposes building a new restaurant between the Defiance Fire Company and BankNewport on Hope Street, directly in front of the existing restaurant. Dozens of area residents had packed Town Hall for that meeting to protest the drive-thru they say will further exacerbate and already untenable traffic situation around the Hope Street - Gooding Avenue intersection. 

To help allay the concerns of area residents — especially those in the Fales Road neighborhood who say it sometimes takes upwards of 10 minutes to turn onto Hope Street because of traffic in the area — the Town Council asked for a more comprehensive traffic study to be done by the state. The previous traffic study indicated Mr. Prazeres’ proposal would have little impact on Hope Street traffic, despite the fact that the drive-thru would nearly double the traffic to the restaurant, increasing car trips from the current 109 per hour to 187 per hour at peak times. Residents complained that the study — conducted on a single Thursday morning in December — did not accurately reflect realistic traffic congestion, especially in summer months when visitors to town drastically increase traffic.

The council asked the state to conduct a new study that would consider all seasons, accounting for the increase in car trips through Bristol during the heavy tourism months. The state has not yet responded to the council’s request, Council President Nathan Calouro said Monday. Still, the Zoning Board complied with Mr. Prazeres’ request, and plans to hear the proposal Monday night.

“My client, as a courtesy, continued indefinitely his application based on the Town Council (traffic study), which we believed would be promptly conducted by the town of Bristol,” attorney William Dennis wrote to the Zoning Board on behalf of Mr. Prazeres. “As it turned out, the minutes of that Town Council meeting revealed no intention by the town to conduct a study. Rather, the intention expressed was to make a request of the RI State Traffic Commission. Of course, there is no way to determine if the state will agree to conduct such a study or when such a study of the entire corridor may occur.”

Mr. Dennis wrote in his letter that Mr. Prazeres originally intended to cooperate with the traffic study, and then resubmit his identical proposal. Instead, “we respectfully request to be placed on the December Zoning Board agenda,” he wrote.

Mr. Prazeres requires a special use permit from the Zoning Board that allows the drive-thru window he has said is the main motivation for the proposal. All businesses in Bristol with a drive-thru — from coffee shops, to banks, to pharmacies — require the Zoning Board permit, according to Zoning Enforcement Officer Edward Tanner. 

The drive-thru is the problem, according to area residents who expect more drivers to turn into the plaza via Hope Street, the entrance to which is across from Fales Road, further congesting traffic. They dispute the previous study’s findings, particularly the season and the time of day — 7:45 - 8:45 a.m. — it was conducted. Traffic tends to back up in that part of town in the afternoon.

“It’s so dangerous up here, it’s ridiculous,” Fales Road resident Nick Conti has said. “It will definitely make it worse with the drive-thru.”

The residents have suggested the Dunkin’ Donuts be relocated in Gooding Plaza, perhaps on the east end of the shopping center closer to the Gooding Avenue entrance. They have said they are not against Dunkin’ Donuts, but just the location.

At least one Zoning Board member isn’t so sure. Reached Tuesday, David Simoes said Mr. Prazeres meets “all requirements” and is proposing to build the Dunkin’ Donuts in the exact same location as his last proposal.

“They’re making such a stink of it,” Mr. Simoes said of neighboring residents. “You know where the traffic is coming from? Metacom Avenue and all the construction there. They’ve got to realize they can’t condemn the Dunkin’ Donuts when the traffic has nothing to do with it.”

Bristol Zoning Board, Dunkin' Donuts, Gooding Plaza, Bristol traffic

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