WESTFIELD—A parking lot and pad site may be coming to Root Road but it still must clear hurdles with the Westfield Planning Board.
The Westfield Planning Board held a public hearing earlier this week for a special permit, site plan and storm water review on a development on Root Road for a parking lot with over 100 spots and pad site that could be used for a future building and business. The board chose to continue the hearing but the project is expected to go before the board again on Sept. 5. The lot is located near both the Utz Distribution Center and the Roots Athletic Complex on the same road, and could become additional parking for adjacent facilities until a tenant is determined or beyond, according to Jay Vinskey, city planner.
Root Road location for proposed parking lot and pad site.
Vinskey said that standalone parking is not an allowed use in the city zoning except in the core district but because of the location of the site and its adjacent lots, the use of parking could be allowed.
“Normally a standalone parking lot would not be allowed but because it’s serving a commonly-owned property within 300 feet, if you look at that section of the ordinance, that’s how the building inspector determined how it would be permitted,” he said in an interview two days after the planning board meeting.
The section of the ordinance that Vinskey referred to is in Section 7 of the zoning bylaws, titled “Off-Street Parking and Loading,” which he mentioned was the first paragraph of section 7-10.3.
From section 7-10.3: “All required parking shall be provided on the same lot with the main use it is to serve or, in Commercial, Business and Industrial Districts, on a lot that is in the same ownership as, and located within, three hundred (300) feet of the main use, except as provided in 7. And 8. of this Section.”
The lot in question is in the Industrial A zoning. Also, according to Vinskey, the lot is also owned by the same owner as nearby lots, with Roots Athletic Complex being one of the lots Vinskey listed.
The Westfield News was not able to reach the pending zoning application’s listed applicant via telephone before deadline.
However, during the meeting Aug. 15, planning board members questioned the plans due to concerns over the uncertainty of what the pad site could become, as well as the addition of impervious ground within the water district, which could occur with additional paving and was the reason behind the special permit request.
“I do have great concerns with this being in the [Barnes] aquifer district,” planning board member Jane Magarian said during the meeting Tuesday. “If we can get more information on future use maybe we only need 50 parking spots.”
According to Carl Vincent, who read a portion of a letter from the Barnes Aquifer Protective Advisory Committee (BAPAC), the site was not recommended for approval without a slated purpose.
“Without a defined proposed use BAPAC members do not recommend the approval of the project,” Vincent read. He said that this was in the final paragraph of a letter from BAPAC to the planning board regarding the project.
According to Vinskey though, if a use is determined for the pad site after the planning board approves this current plan, then the new use and building would have to go before the planning board and BAPAC again for consideration.
“Anything aside from the parking lot is a full new application,” he said. “So if they do come back with a tenant and a use then we would have to start over with a new submission to BAPAC and a review.”
However, Brian Balicki, who spoke on behalf of Sage Engineering for the project during the meeting, said at one point that they are “trying to build up a pad-ready site to get a client quicker and get the site in compliance with the storm water permit.”
The planning board’s next meeting is scheduled for Sept. 5, which is also the tentative date for this project’s continuation.
