Ward 6 City Councilor William Onyski (WNG file photo)
WESTFIELD–Ward 6 Councilor William Onyski brought a 3-0 recommendation from the Legislative & Ordinance committee to Thursday’s (Feb. 7) City Council meeting to move four items from the City Council to the Planning Board for special permitting authority, and to assign two that were previously unassigned. The recommendations came after several months of work in sub-committees and public hearings in both bodies. The City Council voted to approve 12 to 1, with At-large Councilor Dave Flaherty opposed to moving it to a second vote.
Onyski said the original motion to move special permitting authority came through with a lot of items. “I thought the City Council might like a compromise,” he told them. He said the L&O Committee voted on all the items, and came up with a new document which recommended moving only a few items under the Planning Board. Onyski said the ordinance could be amended, or voted as written.
Items recommended by L&O to move to the Planning Board for special permitting authority included:
–Motor Vehicle Sales
–Motor vehicle sales (excluding heavy/construction equipment) or Rental Agency.
–New construction of multifamily dwellings which meet all area and density requirements of the city.
–The design, size of lettering, lighting, etc. of all ground signs or accessory wall shall accompany the site plan submission and shall meet the approval of the Planning Board or its designee provided that additional signs may be added and existing signs changed after submission or approval of the site plan notification thereof and the necessary descriptions as above provided are given to the Planning Board and if the additions or changes are approved by the Planning Board. Exterior spot lighting of signs is permissible, but only if shielded so as to direct the light to the sign only.
–Such a sign may be a double-faced sign (more details follow).
Ward 1 Councilor Mary Ann Babinski (WNG File Photo)
Two items that were not assigned to a permitting authority in the ordinance were also assigned to the Planning Board:
–Pet kennels and veterinary hospital
–Theatre, hall, club and other indoor places of amusement or assembly
“All in all, of those ones originally listed, more of them are staying with the City Council, and four are going to the Planning Board,” said Ward 1 Councilor Mary Ann Babinski. She said this would not be the final word, as there are other things to correct in the city ordinances such as language, and making sure there is oversight and enforcement.
Babinski said whoever is the permitting authority will hold public hearings. “We need to make sure that residents feel they have a say, and their voices may be heard. I want to make sure there are steps that we can take going forward. I hope that we can work together on this important first step,” she said.
At-large Councilor Dan Allie said he appreciated the way L&O worked on the ordinance. “They decided to move items to the Planning Board that had no good reason to stay in City Council, and left the more controversial ones in the City Council,” he said.
At-large City Councilor David Flaherty (WNG File Photo)
“I’m going to be a no. These items were put in the City Council for good reason,” said At-large Councilor Dave Flaherty. He also commented that the Zoning, Planning and Development had gone through the items, and the ordinance should not have been changed in the L&O committee.
At-large Councilor John J. Beltrandi, III said that he has seen the room full at the Planning Board during public hearings. He also said that the L&O Chair (Onyski) had served on the Planning Board for a long time. “When these things go to the Planning Board, they’re vetted very carefully,” Beltrandi said.
“We do have an item in ZPD to look at all the zoning ordinances,” said Ward 3 Councilor and ZPD member Andrew K. Surprise. He said the Planning Board can only do what the regulations of the municipal ordinances say they can do, and the ordinances are not always as detailed as they should be.
The special permit transfer passed the first vote as revised in L&O, with no changes made on the floor.
After the meeting, Onyski said there were many more special permits proposed originally to be transferred, but L&O cut the list down to what is in the revised ordinance. “It was encouraging to see the City Council compromise on this matter where the more controversial items stayed with City Council, but some still moved to the Planning Board,” Onyski said.
