WESTFIELD – A special permit hearing continued from February for RC Retail, dba “Red Cardinal,” a recreational marijuana shop planned for 265 Union St., zoned Industrial A, came before the Planning Board again on April 5, facing a seemingly uphill battle for permitting.
Red Cardinal and the City of Westfield entered into a Host Community Agreement on Nov. 9, 2020.
Bradford Moir, an attorney representing RC Retail, and Jeff Roblyer, construction supervisor, said the site plan had changed due to the required compensatory storage, and that all buildings on the property, including an existing residential house, would be required to be razed. “That is how we are proceeding,” Roblyer said.
He said Robert Levesque and his team at R. Levesque Associates, a land design company, are proceeding with the final grading for the site plan to go before the Conservation Commission in May.
Moir said taking down the house changes the circumstances of the special permit, required due to the property being within 300 feet of a residential district He said the house that will now be coming down was the closest to other houses or residences. “Now that has been eliminated…All other residences are over 500 feet away from where this operation is,” he said.
Planning Board member John Bowen asked about the residential zoned property across the street.
ROBERT LEVESQUE
Roblyer said there is a residential district across the street, but the closest parcel zoned residential is adjacent to the property at 110 feet. “We understand 300 feet, but part of that is as a board you can waive the requirement The house across the street is 700 feet from the zoning line, and the adjacent zone is Golf Acres with no residential houses. We’re asking for consideration to waive the buffer to the zone lines,” he said.
“We’re asking for your permit, because the dwellings themselves are over 500 feet away,” Moir added.
Planning Board member Jane Magarian again raised the issue of zoning and residential areas. “As far as I’m concerned, those are hard and fast boundaries. In my opinion, it should be a firm guideline,” she said.
“They’re not hard and fast, they’re special permit triggers. In this case, there’s nothing along that corridor that’s residential. It’s a special permit trigger, it’s up to you to look at it,” said City Planner Jay Vinskey, adding that the ordinance talks about pre-existing residences, because anyone that builds afterwards would know there’s a marijuana facility there.
Planning Board chair William Carellas said when it comes to special permits, the board has to meet basically four different findings. It has to have site appropriateness, no adverse effects, adequate and appropriate facilities, and the plan has to conform to rules and regulations. Vinskey said there are a couple of other findings added for marijuana establishments.
“I’m struggling with the finding number two that construction on these wetlands in this area is going to have an adverse effect on everybody on Union St. I’ve lived in Westfield long enough to see numerous floods in that area,” Carellas said.
“I don’t care how much water mitigation you use, that water’s gotta go somewhere, and it’s going to go to a building that wasn’t designed to accept that water, because it was built a long time ago. If you put a big building up in there, you’re going to have an adverse effect on that location,” he added.
Levesque said there are a couple of silos for permitting. The first silo is the Planning Board, then the Conservation Commission. “This building has been designed by an engineer, and will be submitted to the Conservation Commission for comp storage. I don’t think the Planning Board has any jurisdiction over flood plain comp storage performance standards,” he said.
“I would like to caution the board on leaning too heavily on flood concerns when there’s another body that addresses those concerns,” Vinskey added.
Planning Board Bernard Puza said his concern is the neighboring Golf Acres. “Kids could walk over,” he said. Levesque said the facilities are secure under the rules of the Cannabis Control Commission, and the security plan has been vetted with the police chief.
Planning Board member Rich Salois said for him it’s not one thing. He said being in the middle of a flood plain, close to residential areas, in an area that is spot zoned. “The flooding, spot zones, closeness to residential, close to Business A and Business B, combined together, this is not the right spot for this thing. All of them together build up to this is probably not a good thing,” he said.
The discussion was then opened to public participation, with abutters Charles and Melissa Kielbasa weighing in with their concerns, which included proximity to a residential district with families that frequent area businesses and schools. “The site is not proper,” Charles Kielbasa said, adding, “As far as comp storage, when water gets displaced, I don’t care if it goes to other places. Our land is getting wetter and wetter because of all this unchecked development on Union St.”
After further discussion, Moir asked to continue the hearing until after the plans are presented to the Conservation Commission. He said they will schedule a meeting in early May.
The Planning Board hearing was continued to May 18.
