WESTFIELD – Attorney Michael Frankel, representing the petitioner seeking a 58,692-square-foot addition to the Walmart store at 141 Springfield Road, requested the Planning Board to continue the public hearing to Dec. 6, 2011.
W/S Westfield Properties Limited Partnership, the applicant, is requesting the Planning Board to approve a special permit, the site plan and stormwater management plan for the expansion project.
Frankel made that request to continue the hearing because only five members of the Planning Board, a quorum, were present Tuesday night.
Community Development Director and City Planner Larry Smith said Tuesday that the issue is that a special permit requires a super majority of the seven-member board, or five votes to approve the special permit.
Members have to be present at all sessions of the public hearing, which on large projects may span several meetings, to be eligible to vote. Had the hearing proceeded Tuesday night and was continue to the December session and one of the five present Tuesday could not attend, the process would have had to begin anew.
“With only five members here tonight, the petitioner is seeking to continue it to the next meeting when more members are present so they do not need a unanimous vote for approval,” Smith said.
Smith said Monday that the Planning Board would most likely continue the hearing until the Conservation Commission completes its review of the project because of overlapping issues pertaining to compensatory storage of flood water and stormwater discharge.
Smith said that under state law the Conservation Commission can require the petitioner to pay for an independent third-party review of the project and compensatory storage figures.
“The Planning Board will probably continue the hearing until the Conservation Commission gets that peer review back,” Smith said Monday.
