WESTFIELD – The City Council voted Thursday night to continue its public hearing on proposed amendments to the city’s aquifer protection ordinance.
The council took that action in case the Planning Board, which continued its hearing Tuesday night, makes substantial changes to the proposed amendment as part of its recommendation to the City Council.
The proposed amendment strengthens aquifer protection elements of the city’s zoning codes, said Ward 4 Councilor Mary O’Connell.
“I see this as a win-win situation,” O’Connell, chairwoman of the council’s Natural Resource Committee which has been working on the ordinance amendment, said Thursday night.
“The Barnes Aquifer Protection Advisory Committee (BAPAC) requested the city, in 2007, to update the aquifer protection ordinance,” O’Connell said, adding that the proposed revision will extend the ordinance restrictions to a whole parcel of land if any portion of that property falls within the aquifer overlay district and that it sets a limit on the amount of impervious surface allowed on a parcel.
The current ordinance has no limit; the proposed amendment would set that limit at 65 percent of the total acreage. Impervious surfaces are typically buildings, driveway and parking areas.
“That impervious surface limit is a big win for aquifer protection,” O’Connell said.
The revision will also allow, through a special permit review process by the Planning Board, commercial development on less than two acres of land, a requirement of the current ordinance.
Some types of commercial enterprises, such as self-storage, would be banned because of the lack of information about materials being stored. The concern is that somebody could store hazardous material in that type of facility and then walk away to avoid the cost of property disposal.
“We are protecting more of the aquifer, that’s the attraction to me,” O’Connell said, “and I like the portions that require a special permit for (commercial development) on less than two acres.”
The hearing will be continued to the Dec. 18 meeting. The Planning Board is slated to meet on Dec. 16 and could make its recommendation on the proposed ordinance change to the City Council at that meeting.
