WESTFIELD – The Planning Board voted to issue a special permit and site plan approval to a Huntington couple seeking to convert a barn into an automobile repair facility on Russell Road, a process initiated in May.
The couple, Eugene and Diane Turner of Bromley Road, Huntington, plans to lease the barn and a house at 1210-1220 Russell Road. The site plan review last night include revisions to the original plan which was originally presented at the May 21 public hearing, changes made to that plan as the result of the Conservation Commission’s determination of applicability.
John Goddard of R. Levesque & Associates said that the “significant” amendments to the plan as a result of the Conservation Commission review process include increasing the buffer between the barn/garage and a wetland resource area, removal of a storm drain at the rear of the property that collects water which is piped directly into the resource area and a paved parking area and driveway.
The Conservation Commission wanted the storm drain removed to allow stormwater to move through vegetation to remove sediment and prevent silt from accumulating in the wetland resource area.
The original plan was to use gravel for the parking area and driveway, but that area will now be covered with bituminous concrete.
An additional garage door and work bay at the south side of the building were eliminated to increase the grass and vegetative buffer between the repair facility and the wetland resource area.
Principal Planner Jay Vinskey warned the applicant that only five of the seven members attending last night’s hearing were eligible to vote and that all five eligible members would have to vote in support of the special permit which requires a ‘super majority’ or five affirmative votes of the seven-member board.
In other business, Tom Smith, a Holyoke resident whose family owns a Cross Street house, asked the board to clarify the process of amending a site plan.
Smith charged that the Planning Board approved the site plan for the proposed Ashley Street school project, but that within a week of that vote the School Building Committee made changes to the approved plan to cut $60,000.
Smith said the Planning Board approved a plan with a student drop-off area separated from Cross Street by a raised cobble stone area, referred to as a rumble strip, and that the building committee chose to revise that plan by replacing the cobblestone with a painted strip.
“Does the mayor have to get your approval to take out the cobblestone median?” Smith asked the board.
Board Chairman Phil McEwan said project “will be built to the plans we approved unless we vote to change the plan.”
