WESTFIELD – The City Council voted Thursday night to approve a special permit and site plan for construction of a 7,200-square-foot, 30-bed boarding house at 431 Russell Road and a related stormwater management plan.
The License Committee endorsed the permit application that will provide a housing option to college students. The special permit application was the subject of a public hearing at the council’s Oct. 3 session.
The License Committee also presented a list of conditions and finding, prepared by City Planner Jay Vinskey, to be attached to the permits and to address some of the concerns raised during the public hearing.
The structure is designed to create residency pods, each with five bedrooms, a common kitchen area and bathroom, but will have open access throughout the building.
Two councilors voted against the permit, one abstained because of business with Big Buck Properties, LLP, the petitioner and nine voted to grant the permits.
At-large Councilors David A. Flaherty and Agma Sweeney opposed the project because of concerns that the facility will become a public safety and disorderly house problem.
Flaherty, at the hearing, said the boarding house for college-aged residents will become an “attractive nuisance.”
“I am going to vote against this,” Flaherty said last night. “I am not in favor of this kind of high density, unsupervised student lodging. I feel that for something this size there should be supervision.”
Ward 4 Councilor Mary O’Connell said that she two had reservations about the density and absence of supervision.
“I was not initially in favor of this,” O’Connell said. “I agree with (Councilor Flaherty) and hope there will not be trouble.”
O’Connell said that she changed her mind based upon the record of the Big Buck principals and the history of the building next door, also built by the applicant, that currently house college students.
Ward 3 Councilor Ann Callahan said the partners will be proactive landlords.
“The principals have ensured met that they will not be absentee landlords,” Callahan said.
The project, as presented by Rob Levesque of Levesque & Associated at the Oct. 3 hearing, will include a total of 34 parking spaces, with 30 for the residents, two handicapped spaces and a two visitor parking spaces. The conditions give the City Council the authority to require construction of additional parking “at any time if it finds the parking does not meet the project needs.”
The facility is also required to have open space area which cannot be used to comply with other requirements, as defined in condition #3 which states: “Such dedicated area may not concurrently be used to satisfy any other open space requirement.”
