L&O endorses ordinance amendments
By DAN MORIARTY
Staff Writer
WESTFIELD – The Legislative & Ordinance Committee will make recommendations to the City Council to amend city ordinances defining the term family and to allow heavy equipment repair, by special permit, in the industrial A zone.
The L&O voted 4-0 last night to support clarifying the term “family” in appendix B of the Code of Ordinances at the request of several city departments.
The ordinance change was originally sponsored by Ward 4 Councilor Mary O’Connell and Ward 3 Councilor Peter J. Miller Jr., to deal with problems of a large number of unrelated people in a residence.
O’Connell had asked city departments to deal with a situation in which eight unrelated people were renting a home in subdivision off Loomis Street. Residents of that neighborhood complained of the substantial increase in traffic and intrusion into their lives.
The Building Department, Health Department and Law Department were all involved in assessing the issue and proposing solutions to resolve the situation. One of the issues raised by health inspectors is that a large number of people living in homes with subsurface septic systems might result in failed systems and pose a health threat.
The ordinance amendment, which will be recommended to the entire City Council Thursday night, defines a family as “An individual or two or more persons related by blood, marriage, or legal adoption living together as a single housekeeping unit in one dwelling unit and including necessary domestic help, such as nurses or servants, or a group of unrelated individuals, not to exceed four, residing cooperatively in one dwelling unit. In this instance, an accessory use as described in Sections 3-40.3(1.) is not permitted.”
“The Law Department didn’t feel comfortable with going to court with a grey definition of family,” O’Connell said. “They wrote this definition and feel confident that they can go to court for enforcement with this definition.”
The L&O also voted to allow truck and heavy equipment repair in the Industrial A (IA) zones of the city through a special permit issued by the Planning Board.
The ordinance amendment is sponsored by Ward 1 Councilor Christopher Keefe and At-large Councilor John J. Beltrandi III to address the zoning conflict of a Lockhouse Road business. The owner of that business came to City Hall to initiate the process of expanding his truck and heavy equipment business, only to find that his type of business is not allowed in the IA zone.
That property, located on one of the heaviest used truck routes in the city, was formerly used by an oil company, then was purchased and converted to the truck repair use.
Keefe said that expanding that use to the IA zone will provide a service to the trucking industry in the city’s industrial parks and keep trucks out of other areas of the city.
The proposed change does allow the sale of parts needed to support repair work, but specifically prohibits repair facilities for passenger vehicles, nor does it allow the retail sale or rental of vehicles, machinery, parts or equipment.
Keefe said that the property owner will have to seek a zone change to Business B, which allows a by-right uses like truck repair businesses, to expand his building.
Both ordinance changes recommended by the L&O are subject to public hearing reviews by both the Planning Board, which will make its recommendation, and by the City Council which is authorized to change the Code of Ordinances as the city’s legislative branch.
Dan Moriarty can be reached at [email protected]
