Norwood Costco over first hurdle

The Norwood Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) met last week with representatives from Costco regarding a proposal for 1 Technology Way – the old Analog building at the intersection of Route 1, Everett Street and University Avenue – to turn the site into a brand new Costco shopping center and gas station.

The gas station was the point of the discussion last week; however, this proposal will need several other approvals from Town Boards before it can go through.

Readers may remember that the property came under Conservation Commission scrutiny a few weeks ago when it was found that the property owner had not performed its required remediation work while it was courting a new tenant for the site, which, it turns out, was Costco – https://gvimes.link/analogconcom

The proposed Costco building will be sited on 24 acres of land, with a tire store and gas station and a 900-plus-space parking lot.

“Similar to the services offered at the present Dedham store,” said Attorney representing the property owner – not Costco – David Hern.

Costco Wholesale outside counselor John Weaver said the plan is to put in a four-acre building on the site and replace the existing Analog Devices building. Hern’s client, Technology Realty Ventures Inc., bought the property in 2019 for $28 million. The Norwood Assessor’s Office GIS property card – https://gvimes.link/analog – assessed the property at $20.8 million.

The zoning code relevant to this proposal, at least as far as the ZBA is concerned, relates to the protecting of groundwater. The Board agreed that the stormwater protection measures presented on Tuesday were sufficient and granted special permits related to the Water Resource Protection Overlay District based on that.

Hern said the regulations appeared to be from the 1980s, when the University Avenue development really got going.

“That section of the Bylaw came into being around the 1980s, about the time that University Avenue was being continued and built out to Route 1,” he said.

BL Companies Professional Engineer Suzanne King went through the proposed stormwater protections, starting with the gas station in the southeast corner of the property near University Avenue. She said the site will have a catch basin leading to a water/oil separator there to keep any leakage from vehicles or pumps isolated to the property (also the gas pumps will have more safety features than required by Massachusetts).

She said from there it will go into a check valve and then a detention structure underneath the parking lot on the north side of the property. The Costco building itself will be closer to the southwest corner of the property near the Route 1/University Avenue/Everett Street intersection. The detention system will will then join with the stormwater systems from that building’s roof to a retention basin on Route 1, which will then discharge into the existing system on Route 1.

“So you have the oil/water separator – that’s your first line of defense, you have your check valve – that’s your second line of defense, and it comes through the detention basin with an isolator row in the underground chambers and hydrodynamic separators to meet the water quality volumes – that’s your third line of defense, and it comes through and drains,” she said. “And so there are multiple components of the stormwater systems prior to the entire site discharging at the end.”

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ZBA Chair Michael Sheehan said the project met all requirements for special permit approval. He listed the permits, which includes the Water Protection District protections. Dept. of Public Works Director Mark Ryan said that the site will be checked quarterly for any contaminated water getting into the water system, as well as checking the catch basins every six months. It was also pointed out that the groundwater is currently below the minimum federal standard for human consumption, but Weaver said the systems planned will ensure it won’t get any worse.

Executive Vice President for Costco’s Fuel and Electric Vehicle Charging Dwight Larson said the tanks they’re bringing in will be fiberglass and have leak detection systems installed to further protect the groundwater.

“I believe the applicant presented a very compelling case,” Sheehan said. “All the recommendations that Mr. Ryan had made were taken into consideration.”

Sheehan said the decision will require Ryan’s suggestions. Sheehan said the special permit requires that the plan meets required safeguards “against hazardous materials discharge, loss through corrosion, accidental damage, and spillage.”

“I think they met that: all the controls, the triple well, all the monitoring systems, all the sumps, all the fire alarms within the sumps underground, disposal – they have met all the requirements for disposal for that types of fuel, and that includes the underground storage, the triple piping, the leak detection. I mean, it’s a very thorough presentation,” he said.