Will it ever be time to make the doughnuts in Weston?

Town resisting attempt to open Dunkin' shop

George Gordon eyes the space where he'd like to open a Dunkin' Donuts. (Globe Staff Photo / Joanne Rathe)

WESTON - It's a truth almost universally acknowledged by coffee drinkers who commute.

A town without a Dunkin' Donuts must be in need of one.

Except in Weston, where a yearlong effort by local businessman George Gordon to install a franchise in his retail plaza on North Avenue has met resistance.

But this is far from the typical suburban "not in my backyard" rejection of the ubiquitous orange-and-pink-logoed, Canton-based chain with 8,000 shops worldwide. In fact, Gordon's neighbors are on his side. It's town officials who say that coffee and doughnuts on the run pose major threats to traffic flow on Route 117, public safety, and nearby wetlands.

Tony Abi-Elias, owner of the Weston Market, which sells coffee and packaged pastries every morning, says he isn't worried that a Dunkin' franchise next door would wreck his 13-year-old business.

More traffic in and out of the half-empty retail plaza means more customers for his other wares - namely fresh deli sandwiches, lottery tickets, snacks, sodas, and cigarettes, the store owner said. If his Green Dragon coffee and packaged doughnuts and muffins go unsold because of the big-name brand next door, he'll adjust.

"I can sell other things. There will always be people who don't want Dunkin' Donuts coffee and want something else. So it will be here," said Abi-Elias, gesturing to the coffee urns and pastry station near the front door of his shop.

Neighbor Allan Herring - a frequent Weston Market visitor and friend to Gordon's son Mike, who operates the plaza's Shell gas station - says he wants a Dunkin' Donuts to replace the small Sarni's dry cleaning outpost that left the space last year.

"It's not going to hurt the neighborhood," said Herring, a lifelong Weston resident. "My biggest worry is that I might put on a few pounds."

But Weston's Planning Board, Department of Public Works, Conservation Commission, and police chief have expressed serious concerns about installing the Dunkin' Donuts - even though it would have no drive-through and only minimal seating - along the busy stretch of roadway on the banks of the Stony Brook Reservation.

The proposal must overcome "serious safety concerns," wrote Police Chief Steven Shaw in a September memo to the Planning Board about the possibility of customer parking spilling over onto the highway.

This wouldn't be the first time a wealthy community made it difficult for someone to open a Dunkin' Donuts. Weston is about as exclusive as a town can get, with the state's highest per capita household income and where the median price for a single-family home was $1.3 million last year. There are a handful of small businesses in town, mostly in the village center, and a few months ago a local grocery store was granted permission to sell beer and wine after more than a century of town-mandated dryness.

Even though a bottle of chardonnay is now a local option, is Weston looking to preserve its status as one of the fewer than 20 percent of Massachusetts communities that still don't have a Dunkin's within their borders?

No, according to Alfred Aydelott, chairman of the town's Planning Board. "We do not have anything against Dunkin' Donuts," he said.

"We are talking about the impact the facility will have on the site. We don't have an agenda about what should be there. It's Mr. Gordon's property and we are not dictating how he should use it."

At issue is the number of parking spaces that are needed for the morning rush, which could amount to around 144 cars per hour, with customers spending between five and eight minutes in the shop on average, according to various professional traffic estimates comparing the site with similar Dunkin' Donuts outlets in Millis, Westwood, and Norwood.

The plan has also not adequately addressed how truck deliveries would be accommodated, according to engineering reports for both Gordon and the town that are in an 8-inch-thick folder of background documents in the town planner's office.

Gordon, a longtime Wayland resident who opened the gas station plaza in 1967 and now lives in New Hampshire, said he is very frustrated by the town's opposition.

He has spent $70,000 on application fees, engineering reports, and legal fees just on site approval, he said, and plans to install a $300,000 septic system for the shop if it is approved.

"I'm happy to do that," he said. "I don't really understand why [the town] is so turned off by this whole thing."

Mark Dubinsky, president of Dunkin' Donuts Independent Franchise Owners Inc., said he wasn't surprised to hear that a battle was brewing in Weston.

In 2006, a similar fight erupted over traffic and parking at a proposed Dunkin' Donuts on Linden Street in neighboring Wellesley, a town that has an outright ban on most fast-food franchises.

"Well-to-do communities can make things really difficult for quick-serve restaurants," said Dubinsky, a former operator of 27 shops in Massachusetts, Vermont, and New Hampshire. "But there is no reason a Dunkin' Donuts can't do well in a town like Weston. Franchisees tend to be very good neighbors and community members. And it sounds here like many residents would like it to come."

Gordon's lawyer, Myron Fox, said his client will comply with every regulation possible in the hope of winning approval from the town.

The proposed storm-water management plan and septic system for the Dunkin' site would improve the area dramatically, he said, and Gordon is willing to install sidewalks or a raised island to prevent large trucks from approaching the plaza.

Fox suggested Weston's fears about the store's impact could be exaggerated. Dunkin' Donuts shops have a well-established pattern of business activity - peaking between 8 and 9 a.m. - and generally attract customers who are already using the road.

"Dunkin' Donuts is not typically a destination for people," said Fox, a Wellesley real estate lawyer. "People go on their way to work, and often only if it is on the right side of the street already. Folks who are in Weston who want to go there will probably not choose to go until after rush hour."

The Planning Board is scheduled to hear more about the issue on Dec. 3.

"If they can make their case in terms of the parking, engineering, and impact issues that have been raised, we won't have a problem. We are not trying to make life hard for them," said Aydelott.

In any case, Weston is not Dunkin'-hostile territory, the chairman emphasized.

"In fact, I think most of us like their coffee," he said.

Erica Noonan can be reached at enoonan@globe.com.