CUMBERLAND — The Town Council unanimously approved a zone change last week that paves the way for CVS/Caremark Corp. to expand its footprint at Highland Corporate Park, lets developer Highland Hills LLC construct 100 new condominium units in the land abutting the park, and has the town acquiring 50 acres of open space.

An agreement between the Economic Development Foundation of Rhode Island (the industrial park’s owners), Highland Hills, and the town, breaks up about 99 acres bounded by Mendon Road in the south, Highland Corporate Drive to the west, and Old West Wrentham Road and West Wrentham Road to the east.

Residents along West Wrentham Road who have waged a long court battle with the developers against their old plans for the property supported the zone change, according to their attorney, Michael Horan. They have agreed to drop their lawsuits against Highland Hills.

But other residents near the corporate park are not so pleased. About nine residents, represented by Adam Slesinger, of Grand Avenue, complained at last week’s meeting that the town was ignoring its responsibility to address a foul-smelling odor coming from the local sewers, which run from the corporate park. The smell has been linked to hydrogen sulfide gas.

“The [mayor’s] administration has no way of saying with absolute certainty how the addition of a new office complex and a new set of condominiums will affect the residents already suffering,” said Slesinger. “We should all be in favor of new job opportunities and more revenue for the town, but not at the expense of our health and safety.”

The council’s approval rezones parts of the land from agricultural use (A-1 and A-2 zoning) to light industrial use (I-1 zoning) while other parts were identified as open space land for passive recreational use. The council also approved a Planned Development Overlay District for the parcel, which allows Highland Hills to build the equivalent amount of residences allowed in an area zoned R-3 or high density residential.

Also tied with the zone change is the purchase of 12 acres of the Highland Hills property by the EDFRI. That land abuts the industrial park near the park’s entrance on Mendon Road and will be zoned light industrial. Scott Gibbs, of the EDFRI, declined to disclose the purchase price of the land.

Adding the land to the industrial park allows CVS/Caremark Corp a two-story office building and a parking garage.

The new space, when combined with another 150,000 square foot, two-story office building that the company is building next door, would allow the company to bring in at least 200 additional employees.

CVS spokesman Michael DeAngelis said construction will likely begin late in the third or fourth quarter and be completed late next year or early 2010. The company, which has about 2,000 employees at the park, is not releasing the estimated cost, he said.

The two new buildings bring the total number of sites CVS owns or leases in park to eight.

The company owns 100 Scenic View Drive (34,000 square feet), 400 Scenic View Drive (20,000 square feet), both in Cumberland; 1026 Park East Drive, 475 Park East Drive, and One CVS Drive (its 488,000-square-foot headquarters), all in Woonsocket.

It also leases 100 Highland Corporate Drive (30,000 square feet), in Cumberland.

The deal also gives the town 50 total acres for open space. The newly acquired land is split into two parts. One is a 30-acre parcel abutting the piece of land that EDFRI is purchasing from Highland Hills and located south of the proposed residential development but with no frontage on Mendon Road.

That land, if left as open space, would form a contiguous swath when joined with a 79-acre parcel of open space the town owns next door.

The other 20-acre parcel proposed as open space is the northernmost section of the Highland Hills property.

Developer Highland Hills, meanwhile, is proposing a multifamily residential project of about 100 units on its remaining 34 acres.

Highland Hills LLC is a joint venture company that includes developers Kirkbrae Development Corp., of Lincoln, and the Peregrine Group, of East Providence, that has tried unsuccessfully for the past six years to develop the property.

It had originally proposed a retirement community of 343 condominiums with access from Old West Wrentham Road. The new project will have access from Highland Corporate Drive.

pmarcelo@projo.com