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The Westfield News Serving Westfield, Southwick, and the surrounding Hilltowns
VOL. 83 NO.163
— Armenian proverb
www.thewestfieldnews.com TUESDAY, JULY 15, 2014
New twist for Planning Board By Dan Moriarty Staff Writer WESTFIELD – A Pontoosic Road resident will request the Planning Board to approve a special permit to allow construction of one residence during a public hearing slated for the board’s meeting tonight. The special permit petition and review is routine business for the Planning Board, but not in this case where the petitioner, Henry Bannish of 225 Pontoosic Road, is seeking the special permit for an open space flag lot. Bannish, the vice chairman of the Conservation Commission, is seeking that open space flog lot designation for 8.44 acres of land zoned for rural residential uses and which is completely within the aquifer zone II protection area. Bannish’s petition is being presented to the Planning Board by Rob Levesque of R. Levesque Associates, Inc. “This one is kind of cool,” Levesque said last night. “It’s the first (open space flag lot petition) to go to the Planning Board. Hopefully it goes well, but you always wonder if it will because it is something they haven’t seen before this.” Levesque said that Principal Planner Jay Vinskey suggested that they petition for the open space flag lot designation because Bannish proposes to create one two-acre building lot and to seek a conservation easement, to be granted to the city, for the remaining 6.44 acres in perpetuity for conservation purposes. The property is in the estate of Jean Bannish and abuts the Southwick town line on the south property line. The odd-shaped parcel abuts Magnolia to the north and both Laro Circle and Canal Drive on the west. Levesque has a prominent role at the board’s meeting tonight also representing the developer of the 10-lot Bent Tree subdivision which was approved by the Planning Board, but who is seeking a minor modification to the accepted plan. The 10-lot development on 28 acres of land off Montgomery Road is being developed by Mark Bergeron of Bent Tree Development, LLC. The preliminary subdivision plan was approved by the board in February and the definitive plan at the board’s May 20 meeting. The definitive plan is the document that will be filed with the Registry of Deeds along with the Mylar drawings signed by the Planning Board members. The document includes the board’s findings, condition and waivers. The developer is asking the board to lift a requirement to install a four-foot chain-link fence included in the original plan as a condition for approving the special permit. Bergeron argued that instead of installing the fence he would decrease the slops of the retention pond, changing the proposed 3 to 1 slope to a 4 to 1 slope and that the fence looks institutional. “I’d like to put something in that is more natural,” Bergeron said at the board’s last meeting, adding that maintenance of the fence will be difficult and that, over time, it would become overgrown. Levesque will also present changes to the special permit application for 99 Springfield Road representing Julie and Nabil Hannoush who purchased the former car dealership property and are seeking to redevelop that land which borders the Westfield River. The original plan, submitted to the Planning Board by Levesque, included a stormwater retention basin on land abutting the north bank of the river. That plan called for removal of a large number of trees in the buffer zone between the property and river and creation of a retention basin. The Conservation Commission and the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) opposed the tree removal, even though it is allowed under state environmental law, and modification of the stromwater management plan, which has to be approved by the Planning Board as an element of the special permit. The Conservation Commission then signed off on the environmental permit and condition. “The DEP did have some concerns that we were going to be disturbing forest and the riverfront area,” Levesque said. “We’re proposing to excavate a small area behind the existing retention basin to compensate for lost storage.” The special permit petition includes renovations to the existing building and construction of three retail buildings at 99 Springfield Road, the former home of a Balise car dealership. “We’ve updated the plans, revised the building footprints,” Levesque said. “The bank will now be a standalone building.”
“Advice is a free gift that can become expensive for the one who gets it.”
75 cents
Man found dead in river ID’d
Elevator repair
Baystate Elevator technicians Richie Netzer, left, and Mark Frink, examine a new self-contained hydraulic pump system that will be installed in the Westfield City Hall elevator. Technicians should have the installation complete by Thursday morning. (Photo by Frederick Gore)
SFD staffing needs examined By Peter Francis Staff Writer SOUTHWICK – At a meeting of the Southwick Board of Selectmen, Vice Chair Joe Deedy spoke of staffing issues being faced by the Southwick Fire Department. Reliant almost entirely on volunteers, the town has seen numbers drop over the past few years, and a letter written to the board by Southwick Fire Chief Richard Anderson indicated that the department is experiencing staffing issues with it’s emergency medical services (EMS). Read aloud by Chair Russell Fox, Anderson’s letter said that the issues are stemming from the hiring of two volunteer emergency medical
technicians. “Prior to their hiring, the two EMTs were doing four volunteer shifts each,” read Fox. “Now that they are fulltime employees, those shifts are open. We have probationary EMTs in training who will eventually be able to take up open shifts.” Anderson, who was attending the wake of former Southwick firefighter Tim Bridges, was therefore unable to make it to the meeting but stated in the letter that the department is facing a “temporary situation” for two months that the department needs to support, and proposed covering these shifts with a pay of $12 an hour. See SFD Staffing, Page 8
By Carl E. Hartdegen Staff Writer WESTFIELD – The body of a homeless man was found in the Westfield River yesterday afternoon by a pair of fishermen near Whitney Playground. City police report that at 1:36 p.m. a DPW worker reported that he had been advised by the two men that a body was seen in about five feet of water near the playground. Officer Charles Kielbasa reports that the men had been fishing from a canoe when they saw the body on the bottom of the river. One of the fishermen is an offduty city firefighter who told Kielbasa that he knew right away that firefighters would be recovering a body, not rescuing a person. The men told Kielbasa that the man seen was clothed only in a pair of blue jeans and was face down on the bottom with his arms extended over his head. The responding firefighters brought the body to shore and confirmed that the man was dead. A wallet found in a pocket of the jeans contained a Massachusetts ID card with a picture that matched the deceased man. Police report that the man, Joshua Ault, 39, was homeless, with a last known address on St. James St., Springfield. His next-of-kin is his mother in Michigan and police delayed releasing Ault’s name pending contact with his mother. Police report that the cause of death has not yet been determined but said that there are no obvious signs of foul play. Officers found a homeless encampment nearby and, although no definitive evidence has been found, officers believe that was where the man was living.
WSU to enforce medical marijuana ban By Peter Francis Lamontagne added that Westfield State’s take is not Staff Writer unique, and that even in Colorado and Washington, WESTFIELD – The Board of Trustees at Westfield states where marijuana has been legalized, colleges State University received word from legal counsel at and universities are still enforcing bans due to their a special meeting last night regarding the legality of a receiving federal funds, which is the area of most conproposed ban of medical marijuana on campus. cern to University President Dr. Elizabeth Preston. In a statement, the University reiterated that it is in “Regardless of how any of us might feel about the compliance with federal laws such as the Controlled use of marijuana to treat a variety of medical condiSubstance Act, the Federal Drug-Free Workplace Act tions, the use of marijuana for any reason remains of 1988, and the Drug Free Schools and Communities illegal at the federal level under the Controlled Act. Substances Act,” said Preston. “We cannot allow the Although Massachusetts is one of a handful of use of medical marijuana on university property withstates that has legalized medical marijuana, the law out jeopardizing our federal funding.” itself states that it doesn’t require “any accommodaPreston added that the policy revisions approved ELIZABETH tion of any on-site medical use of marijuana in any place yesterday are intended to “eliminate any possible confuPRESTON of employment, school bus or on school grounds, in any sion as the state moves to establish dispensaries and youth center, in any correctional facility, or of smoking medical register physicians to prescribe marijuana.” marijuana in any public place.” “Ultimately, we chose this route to be consistent with our sister Susan Lamontagne, the University’s dean of student affairs, said institutions, but I will tell you that we will bird-dog the issue as it after the brief meeting that the policy solidifies the school’s stance. continues to roll out over the course of the year,” said new Board “We’ve always had marijuana prohibited on campus, but with Chair and former Northwest District Attorney Elizabeth Scheibel. the newness of medical marijuana, we needed to clarify that that is “If changes need to be made, then we’ll come back and make not permitted, as well,” she said. “We still fall under federal law appropriate changes. We want to be flexible, but we want to be and receive federal financial aid, which we don’t want to risk for compliant and to be consistent. It’s a new issue, but one we’ll hear our students.” more about.”