Lawsuits against Westwood Station close to being settled

Local businesses and residents who filed several lawsuits against the town and Westwood Station developers said this week that they are making progress toward resolving their differences or have already settled the cases.

Claiming that developers had failed to provide adequate mitigation plans for the traffic that the $1.5 billion project would generate, six Westwood residents, a Westwood business and two Canton business owners separately filed lawsuits in January asking the state Land Court to annul the Planning Board's approval of the project.

The town of Canton also announced its intention to take legal action against developers Cabot, Cabot & Forbes, Commonfund Realty Inc., and New England Development, arguing that the town would suffer all the detriments, including traffic, of a large-scale project without reaping any of the benefits.

The 135-acre University Avenue development will include 1,000 housing units, hotels, retail and office space and is expected to generate about 56,000 vehicle trips daily.

Canton Selectman Robert Burr Jr., said the meeting he had with developers two weeks ago "went well" - at least well enough to warrant continued talks - though the lawsuit process is still in place.

John Harding, a Westwood resident and one of the lawyers representing six fellow residents, said Cabot, Cabot & Forbes has been receptive to complaints and that months of confidential negotiations may soon pay off.

"We're continuing to talk and we're hoping over the course of the next few weeks we may be able to reach a settlement agreement," he said.

Through a spokeswoman, Cabot, Cabot & Forbes declined to comment on any of the lawsuits.

Chris McKeown, Westwood's project manager, also declined to comment on the suits, but said construction would continue as planned.

"From everything I can see, it appears they will be coming out of the ground with vertical construction at the end of August," he said.

After reaching an agreement with developers at the end of May, George P. and Nancy Bates, owners of a commercial property on University Road in Canton, dismissed the lawsuit they filed together with Harrison Specialty Co. and Shield Packaging Co. in January.

"This resolution satisfies both parties," Lisa Goodheart, the plaintiffs' attorney, said of the settlement.

The terms of the agreement, financial or otherwise, are confidential, but a memorandum provided by Goodheart said Cabot, Cabot & Forbes has agreed to pay for a traffic signal near the plaintiffs' property.

In its suit, Cornerstone Corp. of Westwood expressed concerns about accessing its 400 Blue Hill Drive property. Cornerstone did not return calls for comment this week.

In response to resident concerns, developers paid for the town to hire urban design consultants Glatting Jackson Kercher Anglin to recommend so-called traffic calming measures, Harding said.

Additional trees, pedestrian paths, roundabouts, narrower streets and medians could improve driver behavior and reduce traffic speed along Canton Street, Forbes Road and Everett Street, according to a presentation the firm made at a neighborhood meeting in April.

Harding said the traffic calming suggestions may help, and will be further refined based on resident feedback over the next few months, but that developers still need to manage the additional traffic.

"These measures being designed are really trying to slow traffic down, but we're really concerned about the volume that's going to come from the project," Harding said. "So through the lawsuit we're trying to address those concerns."

Lindsey Parietti can be reached at lindsey.parietti@cnc.com. Correspondent Allison Manning contributed to this report.