WESTFIELD—The Westfield City Council will be continuing their public hearing this Thursday on the proposed medical district zoning and residents are urged to participate.
The City Council will be holding a special meeting Thursday, Nov. 2, at 5:45 p.m., to continue the public hearing for the proposed medical district zoning in the area of Baystate Noble Hospital. The meeting will be occurring before the regularly scheduled City Council meeting at 7 p.m. the same evening, and is expected to enter subcommittee following the closing of the hearing.
Baystate Noble Hospital
(WNG File Photo)
“We’re just kind of hitting the reset button on it, to make sure everyone had ample opportunity to say what they want to say,” At-Large Councilor and City Council President Brent Bean, said
Ward Two Councilor Ralph Figy, who initially proposed the district, encourages residents to attend the meeting and make their opinions and questions known.
“I encourage anybody who has not previously attended or previously attended and has new or additional concerns to bring them forward,” he said.
“Once it’s closed you can’t bring new or additional information,” he added.
Following the closing of the public hearing, Bean believes that the ordinance will end up in the Legislative and Ordinance Committee of City Council. From there, Figy said that information from the public will be analyzed.
The medical district zoning, if successful, would create a hospital district in the city around the area of Baystate Noble, where the hospital owns a majority of the land. The zoning could include a list of permitted uses, which “would include a hospital, medical or dental offices, clinics, nursing homes and rehabilitation services, social services and parking facilities along with ‘accessory uses customarily incidental to a permitted use’,” according to a September 14th article in The Westfield News, as well as regulations related to setback of developments, height of buildings and expansion of building footprints.
Proponents of the zoning say that it could provide more efficient ways for development in the zone to occur, including having plan reviews going to the Westfield Planning Board instead of the Zoning Board of Appeals.
However, concerns have been raised about what potential facilities or buildings could be built in the area, including a parking garage or methadone clinic.
