WESTFIELD – The largest group of people in attendance at the City Council meeting on Thursday evening left soon after John Beltrandi withdrew his request for a zone change from residential to business at 255 Southampton Road during a scheduled public hearing.
Beltrandi said he had originally intended to obtain a zone change to purchase the home of Gerald and Suzanne Tracy at the location, in order to locate his real estate office in the building. The property is at the corner of a residential area on Route 10, across from a business zone. 
“I request to withdraw without prejudice due to overwhelming negative feedback, and hopefully come back at some future date,” Beltrandi said. 16-17 people signed a petition to oppose the zone change.
Also speaking at the City Council meeting during public participation was Don Podolski, owner of New Horizons Bikes on Franklin Street, requesting that the city consider a change in the design for the upcoming milling of Franklin Street next spring.
“I’m here to speak for the local bicycling community,” he said about the project which will be funded through Chapter 90 funds. He asked that the city consider making the proposed 5-foot shoulder a dedicated bicycle lane.
He said the current plan changes the road from two lanes to one, with a center turning lane and the 5-foot shoulder, which Podolski said meets the minimum standard for a bicycle lane. He also said that a simple shoulder on the street would create confusion.
Podolski was wearing a shirt advertising the 29th annual Great River Ride along the Westfield River this Sunday, October 9. He said anywhere from 60 to 125 cyclists will be joining the ride, which has routes ranging from 35 miles to 125 miles along the river. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Friends of the Columbia Greenway Rail Trail.
During the meeting, the stretch energy code and complete street policies that were in the Public Health & Safety Committee were discussed. Ward 6 Council William Onyski said the stretch code is an add-on to the building code, which stretches energy efficiency in buildings, and is one of five tenets that will allow Westfield to become a state-designated green community. He said the time frame to adopt the code is by November 20.
At-large Councilor Dan Allie said that the state has basically already adopted the code, which will take effect on January 1.
“The code was adopted. The stretch energy code has to be locally adopted,” said At-large Council Daniel Knapik. He said 180 communities have adopted the extra code statewide.
Council president Brent B. Bean II asked if the regulations would cost residents more money.
Knapik said that, in general, additional up-front costs average $1,000. But he added that as buildings become more energy efficient, costs are recovered quickly. He also said that as a green community, Westfield would be eligible for $250,000 in grant money from the state, which could be used to offset rate increases.
“The basic building code changes no matter what, and comes into effect in January. The difference with stretch energy, is the rating has to be a little better,” Knapik said.
Allie said the policy was written by the International Code Council, adding that building codes should be written locally.
Knapik said that building codes like all regulations get a public hearing and take public comments. He said each community that’s a member has input.
Also discussed was the complete street policy.
Allie said the complete street policy had a negative recommendation of 2-1 from the Public Health & Safety Committee. He said the policy is 64 pages in length.
“I’m certainly not advocating that we reject every program the state comes up with,” Allie said. But he noted the state has a history of changing rules, reducing funding or eliminating funding all together.
“I was the one dissenter,” said Ward 1 Councilor Mary Ann Babinski. “Make sure you read it, but don’t think of it as a conspiracy. We can make this work for us if we want. We can make Westfield safe for pedestrians and bicyclists. Take off the conspiracy blinders,” she added.
Both policies were referred to the License & Ordinance Committee.
