Business View Civil and Municipal | September 2022

127 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 3, ISSUE 9 SERVING OUR COMMUNITIES FOR OVER 70 YEARS PROUDLY AND SAFELY A BEACON MOBILITY COMPANY SCHOOL TRANSPORTATION SOLUTIONS DRACUT , MASSACHUSETTS into the future, with the ultimate goal of filling any empty retail or commercial space that’s left available. Since Dracut isn’t situated near any major highway, the town has its sights set on smaller chain operations like Starbucks and KFC and unique one-off shops, rather than larger big box stores like Target or Walmart that prefer highway access. “There are not many empty storefronts in town, but my goal is to have them all filled,” Phelps says. “I want to fill all the mom- and-pop storefronts in town and try to find a place for all the businesses that do want to open. These are the things I’m looking forward to bringing into town.” And while it would be exciting for the town to bring in some big name chains, keeping the town’s natural small-town charm is still a top priority. Phelps shares, “A lot of feedback that I get is that folks want to see some type of chain restaurant come into town, whether it’s a Chili’s or something like that – and I would love to see that happen – but at the same time, I want to make sure that we always keep the balance of the great right-to-farm community that Dracut has always been. That’s what draws people to want to live in Dracut to begin with. We have this wonderful community with all these open, rolling fields and farms. People like to see that when they’re driving to work every day. They want to drive by and have our small community that we have. So I want to do everything and keep that mix going.” Four Oaks Country Club with its attached Grazie Italian Restaurant is considered one of the most important developments in Dracut in the last 50 years Shaw Farm is a sixth-generation dairy farm with a thriving store and year-round ice-cream stand.