CARL VINCENT
WESTFIELD – The Planning Board voted Tuesday night to send the City Council a positive recommendation for a zone change of land at the intersection of North and Root roads after rejecting a motion to send a negative recommendation.
The zone change, to Business A from the present Commercial A, will be the focus of a City Council public hearing Thursday night. The zoning change petition was submitted by Ralph, Joe and Nick Cocchi to allow operation of a farm brewery on 1.36 acres of land at 353 Root Road.
The petitioners appeared before the Planning Board Tuesday night to present the details of their proposed business plan and the reason for the zone change request. The problem is that the farm brewery does not neatly fit any of the zoning classification.
Principal Planner Jay Vinskey said that the current Commercial A zoning does not allow retail sales or on-premises tasting or serving and that Business A is the next most similar classification, which would allow those activities.
The board members discussed other options, such as changing the property to Industrial A zoning or changing the zoning to include specific language allowing the operation of a farm brewery. The concern of the board is that once the zoning is changed any use allowed in the Business A zone could become a by-right use of that property.
The initial motion by board member Carl Vincent was to send a negative recommendation to the City Council. That motion failed on a 2-4 vote. The members then discussed if they could send the failed negative recommendation since a double negative is a positive.
Vinskey argued that the recommendation should be “clean” without the ambiguity of a double negative. The members then voted 4-2 to send the council a positive recommendation.
The board also rejected a special permit petition submitted by Berkshire Bank for the branch at 31 Court Street, the former Woronoco Bank headquarters, because the bank is launching a new logo. The sign proposed is roughly half the size of the existing sign and is an illuminated X with a dot on top.
The planners felt that it did not reflect the character of the surrounding area and was not appropriate for the CORE district. The board’s decision marks the second time the board has denied a special permit requested by a business, located in the CORE district, to erect an illuminated sign. The board at its last meeting in April denied a special permit to Aaron’s which is moving from East Main Street into the CORE district at the corner of Main and Mechanic streets.
The bank can seek a permit from Building Superintendent Jon Flagg to reface the existing sign with its new logo which will also be displayed on the bank building.
