WESTFIELD—After hearing concerns from residents and expressing some of their own, the Westfield planning board gave a negative recommendation for a proposed zoning change on Little River Road.
The proposal was to change from rural residential and residence A to business A and included possible plans for a gas station to be placed where an existing convenience store is located. Concerns voiced about the proposal included questions about whether a potential gas station would fit into the area, which has farmland nearby and is zoned rural-residential, though one of the applicants on hand spoke to the convenience the proposal could provide.
Muneeb “Moon” Mahmood, who was the applicant on the proposed zoning amendment change, spoke in favor of the proposal. He said during the public hearing that a gas station in the area would give residents and others another option for fuel that was also more convenient. Also, Mahmood said that a petition that was in the currently existing store received over 600 signatures reportedly in favor of the gas station.
Muneeb “Moon” Mahmood addresses the planning board during yesterday’s meeting.
In addition, he said that if the proposal did not happen, then the business may not survive.
“If we do not expand this location today, in the next five years this business will be extinct,” Mahmood said.
Also, he said that by the proposal being OKed, it would allow for an investment into the city.
“We’re looking to invest this money here in Westfield,” he said.
He added that the investment was around $4 million.
Still, there were concerns related to the location of the proposal brought up during the meeting.
“I look at the zoning map and I don’t see any business A for a lot of ways,” planning board chairperson Philip McEwan said. “I see floodplain; I see protected open space; I see residence space; I see agricultural space.”
Residents also spoke against the proposal, concerned about a potential negative impact a gas station could have.
“We feel the zone change would be detrimental,” Tara McEwan said. Tara McEwan said that she and her family live across from the current location.
“We know the reason for this zoning application is for a gas station,” she said. “Allowing this to occur would reduce the value of our home and other homes.”
She also cited potential health impacts that a gas station could have on residents.
Another concern brought forward included that the location was near public water supply wells 3 and 4 in the city. However, according to Rob Levesque of R. Levesque Associates, the location was not within the buffer zone of the wells.
Also, planning board members voiced concerns that if the business A zoning was approved and the store later left, it could open the location to other uses that wouldn’t fit into the area.
“I’m afraid if we approve this you can leave and it could become anything,” planning board member Bernard Puza said.
“What the allowed uses are, I don’t see anything that are conducive to the zoning that would positively impact the neighborhood,” planning board member Carl Vincent said.
In the end, the board voted to unanimously give a negative recommendation on the proposal to city council. Now city council will have to decide if the zoning change will occur at their next meeting.
