New spot advised for adult zone

The adult zoning study committee voted 7-1 last nigh to place Dedham's adult entertainment district on Stergis Way, a change that would tuck potential strip clubs or sex shops away from Providence Highway, yet put them on Legacy Place's doorstep.

The move is subject to review by town counsel. It would also need to be approved by Town Meeting before taking effect.

Selectman Sarah MacDonald, who is leading the study committee, said that once town counsel approves the new district, then the committee could recommend removing Allied Drive, which is now the town's sole adult district, except for a spot on University Avenue.

The committee is also considering taking the adult designation from the University Avenue parcel, which is located near where Westwood Station is being built.

Most of the panel favors Stergis Way because it is more removed from public view than Allied Drive.

And going on the idea that including more parcels makes Dedham's "adult uses overlay district" more constitutionally viable, the committee also decided to reinstate the old adult zone that was ditched last fall, voting 7-1 to add the site of a former Stop & Shop warehouse adjacent to Hyde Park.

The Stop & Shop site, which was the town's adult zone from 1991 to 2008, was replaced by special Town Meeting in November after Town Counsel George Pucci said it was an "illusory zone" that was not commercially viable for an adult business. Pucci said then that a zone there "is in all likelihood unconstitutional."

Finance Committee member Derek Moulton voted against both proposals last night.

Early in its meeting, the study committee discarded a Providence Highway North adult district, on the Boston line, that would have included Toys 'R' Us. Group members said placing the district there would offer too many opportunities to adult businesses and mean that drivers would see an adult establishment when they first came into town.

The decision then came down to keeping Dedham's relatively new Allied Drive district, or choosing a new spot in the Stergis Way area.

In November, special Town Meeting created a new adult district near Rte. 128 and the Westwood line that includes seven parcels in the Allied Drive area and one parcel near the intersection of University Avenue and Blue Hill Drive. Last night, Town Planner Arthur Noonan clarified that the Allied Drive portion actually consists of five parcels on Allied Drive and two on Carematrix Drive.

Moulton argued that Allied Drive has larger properties, meaning it would cost more and be more difficult to build there.

"Stergis and McNeil is smaller, which to me means cheaper, and cheaper means easier," he said of potential adult development.

"I think we are making it easier to put one of these establishments in town," he said of the Stergis district. "We have taken the cheapest piece of property out of everything that we have looked at, and that will be in this district."

Selectman Paul Reynolds said Stergis Way is not ideal, but it is better than Allied Drive. Stergis Way is somewhat appealing because it is hidden, he said.

But, he added, "Stergis Way increases probability of development tenfold. This is definitely a great site."

While Allied Drive is an awkward adult district, "I think that it would be much easier to develop in Stergis - pretty likely that something would go in," said Reynolds, "which would be a bummer, because with the Legacy Place development, we're trying to upgrade commercial development, and if we do that, we suddenly have poisoned the well, so to speak, in Stergis Way.'

The committee voted to include 60, 75, 110, and 125 Stergis Way in the adult district, and 125 Quabish Road, the Tent for Rent property. Those five parcels have three owners.

Stergis Way is off Enterprise Drive, which feeds into the $200 million Legacy Place shopping and entertainment complex scheduled to open in August. The Tent for Rent tract borders Legacy Place's property to the northeast.

Earlier, the committee agreed to remove two parcels at 25 and 75 McNeil Way and two parcels at 30 and 45 Stergis Way to push the district back from Providence Highway a bit.

Reynolds said the Stergis district should be actively and creatively developed so adult businesses do not go in there.

MacDonald said the committee's article must be drafted by the end of next week.

The committee will next meet next Tuesday, Feb. 24, followed by a public hearing on Thursday, March 5.

Dedham and Westwood selectmen are also expected to have a long-awaited discussion of the thorny adult zoning issue at their joint meeting this coming Thursday, Feb. 26.

Daily News staff writer Edward B. Colby can be reached at 781-433-8336 or ecolby@cnc.com.