University Station plan advances in Westwood

By Michele Morgan Bolton

Globe Correspondent / January 12, 2013

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Westwood’s Planning Board is discussing the draft version of a zoning bylaw that must be put into place before construction of University Station can begin.

The zoning would allow for a mixed-use development of retail stores, restaurants, office space, condos, and hotels on the 130-acre, industrially zoned parcel on University Avenue.

Planning Board chairman Jack Wiggin has said his board must make three findings in order to give it the go-ahead for a Town Meeting warrant article: The project must conform to the town’s original master development plan; a mitigation plan must be developed for impacts from the project, and the proposal must comply with performance and design standards.

A two-thirds vote at Town Meeting would be required for passage.

Wiggin and other town officials have said the series of public hearings will continue until they are confident that residents have been heard on the plan presented by New England Development and its team.

Once the proposed amendment to zoning law makes it to Town Meeting, on a date to be determined, residents will also vote on the project’s first phase, to include a Target department store, a Wegmans grocery, and 450 units of one- and two-bedroom housing — along with the proposed mitigation agreement to help assuage costs related to schools, traffic, and public safety.

Michele Morgan Bolton can be reached at michelebolton@live.com.