WESTFIELD – The Planning Board members voted 4-2 to give a positive recommendation to the City Council for a petition to change the zoning of 38 acres of property on Union Street.
The site, a former sand and gravel pit where concrete was mixed, is located is currently a mixed zoning district with part of the property under Residential B (RB) and Rural Residential (RR) which allows the use of a gravel and concrete facility.
Robert Levesque of R. Levesque & Associates presented the detail of the petitioner who is seeking to change the property to a Residential C (RC) district and develop up to 100 multi-family housing units. That use would require the applicant to obtain a special permit, site plan and stormwater management permit.
The property also is within the city’s water Resource Protection overlay zone which would require a review of the planned project by the Conservation Commission.
Levesque said that much of the property in that area is already in use as multi-family housing. Several members of the Planning Board felt that the zoning change will result in a considerable increase of traffic congestion in that section of Union Street.
The project could also have an access to the closed section of lower Sandy Hill Road. The access road to the gravel pit is along a strip of lane with city-owned property, under the control of the Westfield Gas & Electric Department, to the northwest and a commercial building, originally built as an automobile dealership and currently housing a motor vehicle repair and used-car sales business to the southeast.
The former sandpit is located just below 19 residents built along the top of the sandpit bank on Springdale Road.
The board voted to send the City Council a 4-2 positive recommendation with members Carl Vincent and William Carellas voting against that motion. That recommendation will be sent to the City Council which will hold its own public hearing on the zone district change at its Aug. 20 session.
In other business, the Planning Board voted to continue the public hearing on the application for a special permit, site plan and stormwater management permit for a proposed Pride fueling station and restaurant complex at the “jug handle” of the Massachusetts Turnpike access on Southampton Road.
Robert Bolduc, The CEO of Pride Limited Partnership, requested the public hearing continuance to allow sufficient time for the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (DOT) to conduct a traffic study, data the Planning Board requested as part of its review process.
The DOT had initiated a traffic count earlier this summer, after the close of the academic year at both Westfield State University and Westfield Public School District. Several members of the Planning Board said the traffic study would be skewed if the traffic count did not represent the volume of vehicle during the nine months when the university and city schools are in session.
The City Council has also continued its public hearing on Pride’s petition for underground fuel storage tanks and has been waiting for the Planning Board to conclude its review.
Pride Limited Partnership is seeking a City Council special permit to allow installation of underground fuel storage tanks at 9 Southampton Road and 33 Southampton Road until the Planning Board has reviewed and voted on the application to construct two fueling stations.
Bolduc is seeking City Council special permits to install gasoline and diesel storage tanks, which will hold 41,000 gallons of fuel, for a facility that will include a convenience store and restaurants inside the jug handle at 9 Southampton Road and 25,000 gallons of diesel fuel at a truck stop to be constructed across Friendly Way at 33 Southampton Road.
