Planning Board sends ZBA letter objecting to Dunkin drive-through setback variance

TYNGSBOROUGH — May 1, 2025 — Tyngsborough planners objected to a Dunkin drive-through variance and set an $80,000 bond condition at a commercial site on Old Ting Road at the January 2 Planning Board meeting. The board voted unanimously to direct staff to send a letter to the Zoning Board of Appeals opposing a variance at 406 Middlesex Road that would allow a proposed Dunkin drive-through to sit approximately 33 feet from the road rather than the required 75 feet, citing traffic safety, vehicle queuing, and corridor aesthetics. Member Steve O'Neil argued that tractor-trailers serving a nearby approved warehouse project would block the drive-through entrance, saying "the further they can set that back would be the better for traffic purposes." The ZBA is scheduled to hear the variance request the following Thursday. Separately, the board approved sending the building commissioner a letter recommending temporary occupancy at 50 Old Ting Road, conditioned on the applicant posting an $80,000 performance bond to guarantee completion of outstanding paving, loaming, and seeding by May 31, 2025 — a compromise after O'Neil declined to sign an incomplete as-built plan.