Voters at the May 5 Town Meeting will decide if they want to petition the Legislature to allow the sale of beer and wine at a supermarket at the 144 acres off University Avenue permitted for Westwood Station.
According to town officials, Article 18 on the warrant was tailored to fit the request of the Rochester, N.Y.,-based Wegmans grocery store chain, which wants its first New England store to be at Westwood Station.
Westwood Station developers Cabot, Cabot & Forbes are hoping the 71-store chain will become one of two anchor tenants at their $1.5 billion retail, residential, office and hotel complex.
Early last month, Wegmans' senior Vice President of Real Estate Development Ralph Uttaro said that Westwood Station is a perfect bulls-eye for his company. But he also stated that Wegmans wants a beer and wine license for the new store.
The Finance Commission voted on April 6 to recommend the article to Town Meeting, but it was a close call - seven members for it and six opposed. One commissioner abstained.
"I think some people felt it would probably help to bring the grocery store to Westwood Station," said Commissioner Maria Costantini, who would not say how she voted on the issue. "Other people felt they (Wegmans) would come anyway."
Westwood, a completely dry town until a few years ago, has only issued five on-premise alcohol licenses to restaurants since Town Meeting voted in 2004 to apply to the Legislature for the ability to license restaurants to serve alcohol, said Louise Rossi, administrative assistant for the Zoning Board of Appeals.
"I don't think it's right for the town to be issuing a single license when the full question of whether or not we want a package store (in Westwood) has not been addressed," said Commissioner Kevin McManus, who voted against the article. "By issuing one you open the door and who knows which way it will go," he said, noting that there is no plan in place to deal with future applications for off-premise beer and wine sales in a "fair and equitable way."
Some town officials have indicated that a failure to issue the off-premise license to Wegmans would ultimately turn the popular grocery store away. But Uttaro has declined to comment on whether the issue would be a deal-breaker.
"If it's an additional incentive for Wegmans to come in, great," said Commissioner Peter Cahill, who voted in favor of the article.
Commissioner John Gottschalk said he voted against the article. "I would have been more comfortable having more time to study the issues around this, to talk to some of my neighbors, friends and colleagues."
The article asks voters to authorize the Board of Selectmen petition the state Legislature to enact a special law that would let the town grant a single license for beer and wine sales to a grocery store of more than 100,000 square feet in a specific section of town.
The beer and wine could not be consumed onsite, and the license could not be transferred to another location, but could be granted to anyone else who applies for a license at the same location, the article reads.
Town officials and residents have expressed concern that allowing Wegmans the license would put Roche Brothers at a competitive disadvantage. But in its recommendation to town meeting, commissioners noted that Roche Bros. declined the opportunity to move to Westwood Station before Wegmans came along. Roche Bros., a roughly 42,000-square-foot store, already has beer and wine licenses at its Bridgewater, Norton and Sudbury stores, and three licenses is the most a single grocery store chain is allowed under state law, said Paul McGillivray, the company's vice president of merchandising and marketing.
Commissioner McManus said he believes that issuing the license to Wegmans would be unfair to Roche Bros. "We are giving this tenant who has never done a single thing for the town an advantage," he said.
But Cahill said the fact that Roche Bros. turned down an offer to be at Westwood Station is "entirely relevant."
"Roche Bros. was part of this discussion from the very beginning," he said. Should Roche Bros. decide to drop one of its other beer and wine licenses and pursue one in Westwood, they could do it before the new grocery store opened, said Cahill.
"There would be an additional Town Meeting cycle before anyone thinks Wegmans" would be constructed, he said.
Daily News staff writer Anna Kivlan can be reached at 781-433-8336 or at akivlan@cnc.com
