Whately Zoning Board Continues Colleto Development Hearing to June 3

WHATELY -- April 29, 2026, Whately's Zoning Board continued a disputed Route 116 retail permit hearing for the 12th time, setting a June 3 return date. The board spent most of the April 29 session pressing engineers from R. Levesque Associates and traffic firm Bowman about a driveway design change made at MassDOT's direction, restoring full left-turn access across from an existing Dunkin' Donuts entrance, that the board's chair said was not disclosed until late March. Traffic engineer Justin Drago defended the revised design, citing a projected worst-case delay of 21.7 seconds and a level-of-service C rating at the driveway in the 2032 build scenario. A $8,100 check for a traffic peer review by Teigenbaum Associates, stalled for weeks after going missing, was finally deposited, and the contract has been signed. The board also reached agreement in principle that the applicant will conduct additional soil test pits, witnessed by certified peer reviewer Mark Sparkle, to independently validate groundwater level data underlying the project's stormwater design.