Article 9: Dedham plans to swap its adult zone

Barring late opposition, Dedham’s adult zoning will move to Legacy Place, and the adjacent Stergis Way, after special Town Meeting next month. But that hardly means sex shops or other risqué enterprises will open there, according to town officials.

At the Nov. 16 special Town Meeting, members will consider Article 9 of the town warrant, a plan by the Ad-Hoc Adult Use Overlay District Committee to drop Dedham’s year-old district near Rte. 128 and the Westwood line. The zone would be replaced with four parcels at the $200 million Legacy Place development and three properties just farther north on Stergis Way.

The change, if approved, would cap a flurry of adult zoning planning dating back to last year, when a lawsuit by the owner of Dedham’s only existing adult business revealed that the town’s longtime zone – the site of a former Stop & Shop warehouse next to Hyde Park – was likely unconstitutional, leaving the town legally vulnerable.

The four-year legal battle was resolved when Amazing.net was allowed to switch storefronts within its same building, moving to 59 Eastern Ave. Amazing.net, an adult book and novelty store, is exempt from the proposed zoning changes. Meantime, special Town Meeting voted last fall to revise the adult uses bylaw and place adult zoning on Allied Drive, Carematrix Drive and Blue Hill Drive.

The group headed by Selectman Sarah MacDonald voted 6-1 to recommend the latest plan back in July, following a comprehensive review it undertook since January.

She said the adult zoning study committee “took a very careful and deliberative approach,” looking at all commercial areas in town, and that its first priority was protecting residents and finding the least harmful location for them.

The committee went with seven parcels that are commercially zoned. Three are owned by Legacy Place LLC – 110 Elm St., which represents the bulk of Legacy Place on the corner of Providence Highway; the lot formerly known as 196 Commercial Circle, a Legacy Place parking lot across Enterprise Drive; and 135 Quabish Road, an empty lot abutting Wigwam Pond. One property, 200 Elm St., is owned by National Amusements Inc. and contains its Showcase Cinema de Lux. The final three parcels, at 75, 110 and 125 Stergis Way, are owned by the SIP Trust, an acronym for the Stergis family’s industrial park.

 MacDonald said each of those landowners holds more than one parcel overall, so “the idea would be that they’re more vested in the whole area, and may not make a hasty decision on tenants because they know the effect that it would have on their properties.”

“At the end of the day, we have to hope that the landowners involved consider what’s in the best interests of the town,” she said.

The committee’s decision to put adult zoning on Stergis Way went against the stated desire of Legacy Place. Attorney Peter Zahka said last spring that having the district next door on Stergis gravely concerned his client, which offered to put the zoning on its property, where it would have some control over adult uses. The committee opted for both.

David Fleming, the corporate marketing director for Legacy Place co-developer W/S Development Associates, declined to comment on the adult zoning issue.

“We didn’t make anybody happy,” MacDonald said, but “the committee really feels that we have chosen a location that is least harmful to residents,” as the nearest houses and apartments are some distance away.

She said no one spoke against the proposal during public hearings before the Planning Board and Finance Committee earlier this month.

In any case, no one has formally expressed interest in placing an adult business in Dedham, said Town Planner Christopher Ryan. If such a business were to line up a suitable property, it would still need to go through a rigorous special permitting process before opening.

“Through this process, we haven’t heard from any potential adult business owner,” MacDonald said. “I expect it will continue to be a hypothetical discussion for awhile.”

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