Public Hearing for Gillette Stadium Employee Lots Continues Thursday Night

The public hearing for two new parking lots for Gillette Stadium game day employees will continue tonight as the public will have a say after last week’s meeting was forced to adjourn due to time limitations.

Due to the Ahern School closing at 10 p.m. and last week’s meeting running late, the planning board chose to continue the hearing to 7 p.m. Thursday night at the Boyden Library.

The issue will be the only item on the board’s agenda.

The two lots, which will have 1,164 spots, will only be used by game day employees during 20 events a year mainly consisting of Patriots games, major international soccer matches, and concerts.

Employee Lot A, which has 550 spots will be located off of Route 1 with entrances off of Route 1 and Pierce Street. Employee Lot B, built near Bass Pro Shop, will have 614 spots and an entrance off of Route 140 before the Route 1 underpass.

Workers coming from Route 1 North will have to get off at the Route 140 exit near Dunkin’ Donuts before turning left to the lots. Anyone coming from Route 140 South will go into Employee Lot A.

About 95-99 percent of the traffic for the two lots are expected to come from the south but an entrance route to Lot B from the north has been designed to allow workers to enter though the main entrance and travel behind the stadium.

More cars on Route 140 does have some members of the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer located on Route 140 worried. With services at 8:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. and Christian Ed. at 9:45 a.m., some members of the church and neighborhood at last week’s meeting were concerned about the impact of the extra cars.

According to Gillette Stadium officials, the majority of employees using the lots will be arriving five to six hours prior to kickoff. For a 1 p.m. game, half of the employees are expected to arrive by 7 a.m. with the vast majority in the lots by 10 a.m. according to the statistics provided by Gillette Stadium officials at last week’s planning board meeting.

To see the slideshow of the proposal shown at the Sept. 25 meeting of the planning board, including the traffic patterns and police detail locations, click here.