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WEATHER TONIGHT Mainly clear. Low of 60.
The Westfield News Serving Westfield, Southwick, and the surrounding Hilltowns
www.thewestfieldnews.com MONDAY, JULY 21, 2014
VOL. 83 NO.168
— Horace Greeley
75 cents
Swag sold to officer
Committee member sought By Hope E. Tremblay Staff Writer SOUTHWICK – The Town of Southwick is currently seeking residents to fill open positions on the Conservation Commission to fill a vacancy, up for reappointment in 2015. Duties of the Conservation Commission include attendance at meetings and administering the Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act. A letter of interest and resume must be submitted to the Board of Selectmen by August 1, 2014, by close of business. Selectmen Administrative Assistant Sondra Pendleton said once letters are received, they are forwarded to the commission. “They will make their recommendation, which is sent to the board for appointment,” said Pendleton. “If there are a number of applicants, the board generally asks the commission to narrow them down and they would make a determination to do interviews,” she added. The Conservation Office personnel consists of parttime Coordinator Dennis Clark, who holds an annually appointed position by the Board of Selectmen. The commission is comprised of seven members who are appointed by the Board of Selectmen for a three-year term to oversee the requirements of the Massachusetts Wetland Protection Act, and other activities that potentially impact the environment. The Southwick Conservation Commission’s mission is to serve as the conservation conscience of the town, providing leadership for natural resources planning. The commission works to protect, and where possible enhance plant and wildlife habitat to maintain Southwick’s natural resources. The commission, governed by Open Meeting Law, meets on the first and third Monday of each month in the second floor Land Use Meeting Room of the Town Hall. The Commission, together with the Mass
“There is no bigotry like that of ‘free thought’ run to seed.”
Grand opening at Noble A grand opening ceremony was staged Thursday at the newly opened Noble Primary Care unit at 57 Union Street in Westfield. See additional photos Page 3. (Photo by Frederick Gore)
By Carl E. Hartdegen Staff Writer WESTFIELD – A city woman who sold stolen property to a uniformed police officer was tracked down and arrested Friday. Officer Michael Bradley had been in a local convenience store in full uniform when he heard the distinctive sound of a silver coin hitting the counter and, as a coin collector, recognized the sound for what it was. Bradley found that a woman was making a purchase with Walking Liberty half dollars, minted in 90 percent silver from 1916 to 1947, and was willing to sell him some at face value. Bradley also learned that the woman had spent others and was able to buy them from the clerk. When he left the store, Bradley found the woman trying to borrow a car from a person he knew who asked him to check to make sure the woman was properly licensed before he allowed her to use the vehicle. Bradley complied and learned the woman’s name which he recognized as that of a woman his wife, Det. Roxanne Bradley, had mentioned. When Bradley returned home and showed his wife the 11 silver half dollars he had bought she told him about the most recent case that the woman, Jenifer Chase, 30,, formerly of 3 Bates Road,, had been involved in. Chase had been arraigned on charges of larceny of property valued more than $250 by a single scheme, larceny of property valued more than $250 and larceny of property valued less than $250 after she allegedly stole jewelry from her brother. Det. Bradley asked her colleague, Det. Brian Freeman, who See Swag Sold, Page 8
Noble Primary Care physicians, left-right, RulourTorio, Frederick Torio, Ann Cooper, Aleksandr Pugach and Marcelo Montorzi pose in one of the new examination rooms of the Noble Primary Care unit at 57 Union Street in Westfield. (Photo by Frederick Gore)
See Committee, Page 8
JENNIFER CHASE
Commercial use of Old 49er lot proposed By Dan Moriarty Staff Writer WESTFIELD – Rob Levesque, representing a family seeking to build a commercial building at 1056 North Road, gave an informal presentation of the project last week to the Zoning Board of Appeals. Levesque, of R Levesque Associates, Inc., said the problem with the lot, located at the intersection of North and Old County roads, just across North Road from the intersection of East Mountain Road, is that it does not meet the twoacre requirement under the current Water Resource District zoning. The lot, which has been vacant more than two decades following a fire at the former bar located near the Holyoke city line, is only 1.6 acres. Levesque said his clients would like to construct a 7,300-square-foot building which will house a Dunkin Donut shop and two additional stores. Levesque said the property is
located over the Barnes Aquifer and is zoned for Business A uses. “It’s a pre-existing lot, but that use was discontinued (following the fire), so we need relief from that section of the zoning,” Levesque said. “That relief can come by way of a variance tied to the soil conditions.” The soil conditions are related to the need for a septic system designed to address nitrogen-loading in the groundwater of the aquifer which supplies drinking water to four
A street view of 1056 North Road, Westfield. (Source:www.google.com/maps) communities: Westfield, Holyoke, Southampton and Easthampton. Levesque said that 1.6 acres is four times the area needed under Business A zoning. Levesque did not formally apply for relief from the zoning which prohibits building lots of less than two acres, but did discuss the possibility of petitioning the ZBA for a variance. Typically the ZBA prefers appli-
cants to exhaust all other options before applying for a variance because state law strictly defines what constitutes a hardship which would allow the board to grant a variance. The zoning does allow exemptions for residential lots of less than two acres, but not for commercial property The board members suggested that a zoning amendment might be
the preferable route in this case. The ZBA is empowered to submit zoning amendments directly to the City Council for its consideration. The current zoning, adding the requirement of a two-area lot, was adopted in January of 2003. At that time there were only four parcels of commercially zoned land under two areas on the Water Resource District. The issue will be discussed at the board’s Sept. 3 session.