WESTFIELD – The Planning Board met on Tuesday to continue the public hearing on a site plan for a proposed school on Root Road. The meeting was the first with newly elected chair William Carellas presiding.
Frank DeMarinis addresses the Planning Board on Tuesday.
Before the public hearing opened, Carellas informed applicant Frank DeMarinis of Roots Athletic Center that he may want to consider continuing the hearing, because several Planning Board members who had not been present at earlier hearings could not vote; and another member, Jane Magarian was not present at Tuesday’s meeting, and would also not be able to vote. Carellas said that left only three members eligible to vote on the site plan.
Carellas also said the traffic review by McMahon Transportation had only just been received that morning, leaving little time for members to review it.
DeMarinis said he would like to proceed, and wanted to review the report with the Planning Board and address several issues raised in it. He said one concern he had in the report was its repeated references to a charter school. “It’s a private or a public school,” DeMarinis said about the project, which has not been attached to any particular educational institution. “My concern is that this is a more political report,” he added.
DeMarinis also questioned the reference to an impact study of a charter school in Lowell for grades K-7. He pointed out that the proposed school is for grades 6-12. “The charter school numbers from the impact study are not relevant, and not ethical,” he said.
Going through the requests in the report, he said many of them have been addressed, and others he considered unnecessary. He also questioned whether the additional work they were recommending, such as the traffic impact on Root Road, was asked of other bigger projects, such as Home Depot and Lowell’s. “To put everything on my shoulders because you believe it to be a charter school that’s confrontational with the city,” he said.
DeMarinis said he was open to other recommendations in the report, including extending the sidewalk between the school and Roots Athletic Center, and seeking a school zone on Root Road through the Police Department He also said he was open to moving the handicap spaces, although he disagreed that they were not properly placed.
“I wouldn’t do something if I thought it wasn’t safe,” DeMarinis said.
Opening it up to question, resident Kristen Mello asked that if the septic backed up, would it go into the storm water. DeMarinis said the Board of Health regulates and approves septic systems. “Those folks are the experts,” he said. As to her specific question, he said there are sensors and an alarm that would go off, and they would unclog the problem or pump it out. “All a part of very strict requirements in meeting Title V,” he said.
Planning Board member Cheryl Crowe asked for a continuance on the public hearing, to give the board time to study the report.
City planner Jay Vinskey suggested that the board ask the applicant to respond in writing to the points in the report. DeMarinis said he was agreeable to that, and would have done so but just received the report himself. He also asked since there were no further public comments at the meeting, that the hearing be closed.
Ward 1 City Councilor Mary Ann Babinski, who was present at the meeting, said she thought she heard that they needed site plan approval before they could sign a lease, and that a building permit was based on the tenant being a school.
“It has to be a school, or he can’t put a shovel in the ground,” Carellas said.
Crowe requested continuation of the public hearing to March 20, which passed with no objections from the board. Carellas said he would like members to be prepared to vote on a site permit at that meeting. “If we go through with this, we need to get going. If we don’t go through with his, we need to let him know,” Carellas said.
