WESTFIELD – The City Council voted last week to send a request to withdraw a zoning change for Southampton Road property to the Legislative & Ordinance Committee for further consideration.
The L&O voted earlier last week to keep the petition submitted by DV Realty LLC c/0 of Paul Dion to change the property from its current Rural Residential (RR) zoning to Commercial A (CA) zoning after receiving a letter from Rob Levesque of R. Levesque Associations, which is representing the property owner, to withdraw the zone change petition without prejudice.
If the City Council accepts the request to withdraw without prejudice, the owner can resubmit a similar plan at any time. If the City Council takes some other action, such as voting on the zone change petition and rejects that petition, the property owner must either submit a substantially different petition or wait two years to resubmit a similar zone change request.
DV Realty had submitted a petition to change the zoning of the property from the current rural residential (RR) to Commercial A, zoning which greatly expands allow use of that land. The land is on the west side of Southampton Road just north of the intersection with North Road and is in the transition area between commercial and industrial property to the south of the site and rural farming and residential property to the north of the parcel.
The Commercial A zone allows, as by-right uses, (under Article III, Section 3-90) retail and service stores, barber shops and beauty salons, jewelry stores, appliance repair stores, banks, financial offices, real estate offices, medical and dental clinics, and self serve laundries.
Under that zoning other uses are allowed by special permit, including multi-family housing, funeral homes and elderly group housing. Also included, by special permit, is self storage, which was a lightening rod in this case.
DV Realty had also submitted the same zone change request in March of 2012, a petition which languished in the Zoning, Planning and Development Committee until it was allowed by the council to withdrawn, without prejudice, later that summer.
L&O Chairman Ralph Figy said that his committee only received the letter from Levesque to withdraw the project.
“Nobody showed up at out committee to explain why they want to withdraw the zoning amendment petition, just like it was withdrawn in August of 2012,” Figy said.
Ward 4 Councilor Mary O’Connell said she would oppose the request to withdraw the zone change petition without prejudice.
“I’ll vote no to accept that withdrawal without prejudice,” O’Connell said.
At-large Councilor David A. Flaherty said the property owner is withdrawing the zone change because “they’re waiting for a different City Council that they think will approve their zone change request.”
A substantially different City Council will be sworn into office in January as a result of the November General Election. Veteran members of the Council, Brian Sullivan, James R. Adams, Christopher Crean, Brian House, and Christopher Keefe, are leaving the council.
New Council members include At-large Councilor Steve Dondley, Mary Ann Babinski in Ward 1, Andrew Kevin Surprise in Ward 3 and former Mayor and Ward 2 City Councilor Daniel M. Knapik who will also serve an At-large councilor.
Council President and acting Mayor Brian Sullivan said the council has a number of options in dealing with the request to withdraw the zone change petition.
“We technically don’t have to accept the letter to withdraw,” Sullivan said. “We could go ahead and vote ‘no’ on the zone change request.”
