Agency raises jobs grant, vows Route 9 funds

The state's economic development agency has increased a jobs creation grant to Natick and has stated it will advocate for state highway cash to improve Route 9 near The Mathworks, where an expansion is proposed.

Natick will receive $1.3 million for traffic mitigation on local roads surrounding the software developer's Natick campus, and for the planning and design of improvements to the Route 9 intersections at Oak Street and Route 27. The amount is 30 percent higher than the previously announced grant to the town from the state Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development.

Natick planners have said that major improvements must be anticipated for the congested east-west corridor before they will consider approving The Mathworks's plans to build an additional 165,000-square-foot building and parking garage at the site. At stake is The Mathworks's proposal to expand its international headquarters, bringing to Natick 600 jobs that would pay an average of $92,000 a year.

Town leaders pressed that case last month at a meeting with officials from the state Highway Department and the economic development agency.

"This is by far the strongest level of commitment that the town has ever received concerning improvements to Route 9," said state Representative David Linsky, Democrat of Natick.

Robert Coughlin, undersecretary of business development at the state's economic development office, outlined the commitment in a memo to the town on July 27. The state will:

Fund the design of improvements to the intersection of Route 9 and Oak Street at an anticipated cost of $600,000.

Fund a planning study for improvements to the intersection of Routes 9 and 27, expected to cost $100,000.

Pay for $100,000 in traffic signal upgrades and other improvements at the intersection of Route 9 and Oak Street.

Provide traffic mitigation for Walnut and Bacon streets, which residents fear would become cut-throughs to the campus, at a cost of $500,000.

In addition to the money, which is from the Massachusetts Opportunity Relocation and Expansion Jobs Capital Program, the office promised to advocate for having improvements to Route 9 pushed forward to 2010 on the Metropolitan Area Planning Council's Traffic Improvement Plan. That would coincide with the projected opening of The Mathworks's expansion.

The office also committed to collaborate regularly with the Highway Department and the state permitting office to hasten progress on highway improvements.

While neighbors have complained about the potential traffic and environmental impacts of the expansion, local leaders say the anticipated new jobs would provide a significant economic boost to Natick and the western suburbs.

"It's up to the Planning Board to make the decision," Linsky said. "I am convinced that the needs of the neighborhood can be met and the development can move forward. It's not an either-or situation."

Patrick Reffett, Natick's community development director, said the state's commitment was a first step.

"That e-mail is in direct response to the request by our delegation that the state begin to actively pursue planning and improvements to the Route 9 corridor."

But the memo does not indicate the scope of eventual improvements to the Oak Street and Route 27 intersections, Reffett said.

"It doesn't give the endgame or the final product on either of those locations. Neither of them has been fully studied and vetted publicly with the community in a way that we have a comfort level."

John C. Drake can be reached at 508-820-4229 or jdrake@globe.com.