WESTFIELD – Dennis Bolduc of DNKB, LLC is seeking to expand his Indian Motorcycle dealership to a second location of Southampton Road.
The City Council conducted a public hearing last week on Bolduc’ special permit application and referred the application to the License Committee and the Zoning, Planning and Development Committee.
Bolduc currently operated his Indian MC sales and service business at 962 Southampton Road, but is seeking to establish a second location at 1120 Southampton Road, a former antique car repair and sales dealership.
“Business has been good for us,” Bolduc said. “We’re trying to expand to sell more motorcycles and parts out of there (1120 Southampton Road). We’re the number three Indian Motorcycle dealership on the whole east coast.”
Bolduc said has has a five year business plan to make his Indian dealership a destination regionally, nationally and even internationally.
“Indian Motorcycle has a very deep tradition in western Massachusetts because of its birthplace in Springfield,” Bolduc said. “We plan to have a museum and restaurant.
“We have a collection of antique motorcycles to be displayed in the museum – we’re looking to make this a tourist location,” Bolduc said. “We attract people from all over the United States, the world.”
The former antique car sales and service business, which had a Class 2 Auto Agent license to sell used vehicle, has been out of business for more than a year, which requires Bolduc to secure a special permit from the City Council and then a Class 1 auto agent license is required from the city’s license commission.
The 1120 Southampton Road property is located in the Water Resource Protection District which was adopted several months ago to protect the city aquifer water resource. The Barnes Aquifer provides drinking water for Westfield, Holyoke, Southampton and Easthampton.
The City Council approved the Water Resource Protection District zoning ordinance on March 18 of this year. The intent and purposes of the Water Resource Protection District are: to promote the health, safety and general welfare of the community; to protect, preserve and maintain the public water supply and the lands that contribute to it; to conserve the natural water resources within the City; and to prevent the pollution of the public water supply of the City and surrounding areas.
Ward 4 Councilor Mary O’Connell said she is concerned about what materials will be used or stored at the site as part of the dealership’s day-to-day business operations.
The City Council has three sessions remaining in the current calendar year with the current slate of council members. If a decision is not made by the end of December, a new public hearing may be required because of the upcoming changes in the council membership. New members of the City Council would be prohibited from voting on the special permit because they were not in office when the hearing was held last week.
