Somerset approves Wingstop license for the Stop & Shop plaza, sets 2027 trash calendar and amnesty week

SOMERSET Somerset selectmen approved a food license Thursday for Wingstop at 823 Grand Army Highway, in the Stop & Shop plaza, where the chicken wing chain plans to open daily from 10:30 a.m. to midnight.

The board held a public hearing on the common victualler license, filed by WS Somerset LLC doing business as Wingstop, at its Nov. 12 meeting in the Cucinotta Community Room of the Somerset Public Library, where no one from the company was present. The chairman said he had reviewed the application packet, that the restaurant will be one of the plaza's in-line tenants and that the paperwork appeared to be in order. No resident spoke, and the board approved the license on a voice vote.

A town official at the board's table said the company had already been working with the town's water and sewer department as it prepares for construction, including on oil and water separators and grease traps, and called it a fantastic group to work with.

The same meeting set the town's 2027 calendar for trash, recycling, yard waste, bulk pickup, Christmas tree collection and the holiday amnesty week, and Town Administrator Mark Ullucci reported that a new all-way stop at Read Street and Brayton Point Road is now in effect.

The 2027 calendar and amnesty week

Ullucci told the board the dates had already been reviewed by the Highway Department. Amnesty week in 2027 will be the first full week after Christmas, Monday, Dec. 27, through Friday, Dec. 31, he said.

During amnesty week, a resident who puts out one town trash bag can set out additional bags at no cost, a selectman explained. He said the week is meant for the extra waste that piles up over the holidays, such as gift wrap, which he said cannot be recycled. Ullucci said it is not an opportunity for everyone to empty out their garages, and that limiting amnesty week to the items the Highway Department lists lets crews control how much they collect. A board member said the department has posted that list in past years.

Members noted that the vote covered the full year, including the January Christmas tree pickup and the yard waste schedule along with the amnesty week dates. The board adopted the calendar as it was listed on the agenda, on a voice vote.

A new all-way stop, and a request for County Street

Ullucci said the all-way stop at Read Street and Brayton Point Road is up and running and that the town has received calls about it. He said he hoped drivers would adjust their habits to the change.

During citizens input, a County Street resident praised police for teaching drivers about the new stop signs at Read Street and Brayton Point Road and asked whether the town could do something like its recent stop sign work at a County Street intersection he drives through several times a day, where he said a major crash happens every four or five weeks. County Street is Route 138, a state road, and board members said the town cannot put signs on it, which is why the resident had been told to contact the Massachusetts Department of Transportation.

One selectman who said he lives near the intersection said it has become very difficult for every driver and suggested the board draft a letter asking the state to study it. A board member said the letter would go on the board's next agenda. An official at the table said stop signs are rarely used on a road that wide with traffic that fast, and that he thinks the only answer is a stoplight or a flashing warning light.

Battery storage money not settled

The same resident asked whether the battery storage plant proposed at 1606 Riverside Ave., the former Montaup site, would bring the town about $1 million in revenue. A town official at the board's table said that has not been worked out and that the town is in talks with the company. The project's zoning hearing, set for Nov. 12, was canceled Thursday afternoon, and the Zoning Board of Appeals' canceled agenda lists Nov. 18 for its next meeting on it: Somerset zoning board cancels Nov. 12 battery storage session.

Other business

Ullucci said the town's bid request for a feasibility study of a public safety complex went out last week, that the state posted it Thursday morning and that the town has already had many inquiries.

He also gave an update on a Thanksgiving meals effort he called Meals That Matter, with partners including Stop & Shop: about 50 meals are ready so far, and the effort fed more than 100 Somerset families last year, he said. Residents can nominate a family that needs a Thanksgiving meal, and the effort is still taking sponsors.

The board acknowledged two resignations: Library Trustee Norbert Dionne stepped down for personal reasons, and Isabella Rocha left the Economic Development Committee after a year because she is moving to California to start a doctoral program in political science at Stanford University, according to the letters read at the meeting. Applications for both seats are due through the town's Talent Bank by the end of the business day Monday, Nov. 30, a date members chose after noting that Town Hall closes early before Thanksgiving. Board members also talked about drawing college and high school students to the Economic Development Committee, including through internships.

A selectman who spent Election Day at the polls thanked the town clerk's office and the poll workers. He said a software problem with one of the ballot counting machines meant the ballots for one precinct had to be counted by hand, which took about 2 1/2 hours with nine ballot questions and the statewide offices on the ballot.

What happens next

The letter asking the state to study the County Street intersection is to be taken up at the board's next meeting. The selectmen and the Board of Assessors hold a joint tax classification hearing Wednesday, Nov. 18, at 6 p.m. in the library's Cucinotta Community Room, according to the assessors' posted notice. The Talent Bank deadline for the Library Trustee and Economic Development Committee seats is Nov. 30. The selectmen's meetings are recorded by Somerset Access Television and posted on its YouTube channel, and questions for the board go to the Town Administrator's office at 140 Wood St., 508-646-2800.

Label: Reported by us, from the town's posted records.