WESTFIELD – The Planning Board meeting slated for this evening has been cancelled, yet again, because the board lacks sufficient members to act on special permits now pending.
The board currently has four members which represent a quorum, but is one member short of the super majority needed to approve special permits. Board members are nominated by the mayor and confirmed by the City Council
Mayor Daniel M. Knapik submitted one candidate at the City Council’s Dec. 15 session and four at the council’s Jan. 5 session. All five of those nominations are now awaiting action by the council’s Personnel Action Committee (PAC).
Those candidates are: Peter S. Fiordalice of 57 Wildflower Circle whose nomination was submitted at the council’s Dec. 15 meeting to represent Ward 5; Jane Magarian of 131 Llewellyn Drive to represent Ward 4; Ramon Rivera of 16 Mechanic Street, who has serves as a Park & Recreation Commissioner, to serve ward 2; and Raymond St. Hilaire of 120 Old Stage Road to serve as an alternate member of the board.
The fifth candidate, Christopher Wilkie of 50 Rachael Terrace, has served for the past several years as an alternate member of the Planning Board and has been nominated to serve as a full member representing Ward 6.
The Planning Board is comprised of seven full members, six ward representatives and an at-large member, and two alternate members who are authorized to vote if a full member is not present throughout all of the public hearings held under special permit application review process.
At-large Councilor Brent B. Bean II, PAC chairman, said Monday that the candidates, with the exception of Wilkie, will be interviewed Thursday at the PAC meeting before the 7 p.m. City Council Session. The PAC has a three-page agenda, but will focus on the Planning Board candidates because of the urgency to rebuild that board.
“That’s all we’re going to do, interview the (Planning Board) candidates,” Bean said.
The goal is to present the candidates to the full council for confirmation Thursday night.
The Planning Board has several major private and municipal projects pending, projects being petitioned through the special permit process that requires five affirmative votes of the members authorized to vote on that application.
City Advancement Officer Jeff Daley said recently that the goal is to have a newly reconstituted Planning Board in place for the Feb. 7 session. The Planning Board issue is further compounded by the fact that the city is advertising for a new city planner. Resumes for that position are due by Jan. 27.
The Pioneer Valley Planning Commission voted on Dec. 28 to allow the executive director to enter into a contract with the city to provide technical assistance to the Planning Board and other municipal boards until the city hires a new principal planner. The Planning Board and Conservation Commission are both reviewing the specifications of a proposed 58,692-square-foot addition to the Walmart store located at 141 Springfield Road.
The applicant, W/S Westfield Properties Limited Partnership of 1330 Boylston St., Chestnut Hill, Mass., submitted 120 pages of engineering and traffic impact data and site plan details, as well as environmental impact information, to the Conservation Commission at its Nov. 8 session. The Planning Board opened its review of the proposed expansion project Tuesday, Nov. 15 at a public hearing, which was postponed at the request of the petitioner because only five members of the board were in attendance that night.
The applicant is seeking approval of both boards to expand the existing 127,284 store into a 186,064-square-foot Walmart Superstore, but the public hearing has yet to be conducted. Four sessions of the Planning Board have been cancelled since December.
