Legacy Place may accept adult zone

Nobody, including Legacy Place, wants Dedham's adult entertainment district in their backyard. But the $200 million development off Providence Highway is open to placing an adult zone on its property, Legacy Place attorney Peter Zahka said last night.

The adult zoning study committee is considering four areas for Dedham's adult uses overlay district: Allied Drive, Stergis Way (just north of Legacy Place), University Avenue and the site of a former Stop & Stop warehouse next to Hyde Park.

The committee was supposed to make a recommendation to Town Meeting this spring but is not meeting that deadline, in part because of the complexity of the task before it.

Parcels on Allied Drive, adjacent Carematrix Drive, and the University Avenue property currently make up Dedham's adult uses overlay district.

Zahka, representing Legacy Place LLC, told the committee last night that Legacy opposes being next to an adult district because "they have absolutely no control on what goes on on property that is adjacent to them. And we firmly believe that this area of town is going to become one of the prime retail spots in Dedham," which could encourage adult uses on Stergis Way, he said.

"If you make the area that you're picking too viable of a retail area, and then combine that ... with a single-tenanted building, you may inadvertently be encouraging those uses" because of the car and foot traffic going by there, Zahka said.

The attorney said the builder wants to talk with the committee about "how Legacy could assist by utilizing their property and helping Dedham solve where this should go. In other words, we don't want it near us, we would prefer it not to be here, but if it came down to being adjacent to us or controlling it, Legacy Place would rather control it, because then they know what will happen."

The $200 million shopping and entertainment complex, from W/S Development Associates and National Amusements, is scheduled to open in August off Providence Highway and Elm Street.

Zahka noted that the town of Bellingham has several parcels in its adult uses district, one of which is owned by W/S Development.

Town Counsel George Pucci said he had concerns about adult zoning at Legacy Place.

"The town can't enter into some type of sham transaction, by placing it in a commercial zone where the town enters into some type of side deal with that owner promising never to allow that use there. I'm very concerned about that coming up in a potential lawsuit in the future" from an adult business, Pucci said.

On that note, Selectman Sarah MacDonald said later, "There are ways that we can work with them to make it a legitimate district."

MacDonald, who is leading the adult zoning committee, said the group "is going to need a substantial amount of additional time to consider all of the options that are on the table."

It will next meet Monday, April 13, at 7 p.m. in Town Hall.

Last night, the committee heard from neighbors and business interests in the Allied Drive and Stergis Way areas, who uniformly said they did not want an adult district near them.

Kimberly Quinn, who lives on Willard Street - behind Allied Drive - said there are more than 20 children on her street. Traffic heading to the Hilton Hotel often takes a wrong turn and ends up on Willard.

"What's going to happen when something opens down there? You're going to have all these people coming down our street, we're not going to be able to let our children out to play. Is this what you want? Is this what this town is about?" said Quinn, who argued for Stergis Way.

Eight people from Willard Street attended the meeting.

Hilton General Manager Ellen Callis said the Hilton is a "family hotel." Having adult businesses there, she said, would be "detrimental to my business."

Since many people use the MBTA station there, such businesses would give visitors a bad first impression of Dedham, she said.

An attorney for the owner of Stergis Industrial Park made a similar argument, saying the area might lose its attractiveness to commercial tenants if it becomes an adult district.

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