WESTFIELD – The Westfield Conservation Commission March 9 granted several permits to projects in Westfield. The commission administers the commonwealth’s wetlands regulations by determining wetland boundaries; reviewing and permitting projects proposed in or near wetlands and associated buffer zones; and by placing conditions on development projects that affect wetlands.
Granted was permission to Result in Wellness owner Sofia Zanzarella to erect a removable 200 square-foot prefabricated wood shed in the parking lot adjacent to her business at 93 Springfield Road, within the 100-year floodplain. The shed will have electricity, a refrigerator and a place for people to sit.
Joe Mancino of 354 North Road was granted a permit for installation of a new addition, including a garage, to an existing house within the 100-foot buffer zone to wetlands at the rear of the property. Conditions for the permit included planting a a 10-foot vegetative strip across the back of the property, and erosion controls installed before work starts on the project.
A request from Jeanette Peretti for a minor change to a permit for a single-family home at 34 First St. in the buffer zone of Pequot Pond was approved. Contractors on the project had suggested a dip in the pavement to divert water from the driveway to a stone rip rap in lieu of the pervious pavers conditioned in the plan, which they said would potentially heave and undermine a retaining wall.
Not approved was a 70-page request from Springfield Water Works’ West Parish Filters for a certificate of completion and release of a $10,000 bond for a bridge project at 1515 Granville Road, in order to give new plantings at the project a full year’s growth cycle..
Melissa Cody of Tighe and Bond, who represented Springfield Water & Sewer at the meeting, said the only open order of conditions on the property was for the replacement of bridges one and two, which were constructed when the facility was first constructed prior to 1920.
Cody said the work was completed in October, 2020, according to the plan approved by the commission. She said the contractor deserves credit for less impact than expected at the bridge number two site.
Conservation Coordinator Meredith Borenstein said everything under the order at the site had been completed except the monitoring of new plantings, and suggested the board might consider a partial release of the bond.
Commissioner James Murphy said a partial release is highly unusual. “We have to be consistent with decisions in the past,” he said, adding the plants were planted last fall, and a full growth cycle will be in six or eight months. “I propose we wait until then,” he said, which passed unanimously by a vote of the commissioners.
