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The Westfield News Serving Westfield, Southwick, and the surrounding Hilltowns
www.thewestfieldnews.com TUESDAY, MARCH 3, 2015
VOL. 84 NO. 057
“America is a tune. It must
be sung together.”
— GERALD STANLEY LEE
75 cents
Scallion puts schedule options up for vote
A license petition was submitted by 99 Restaurants of Boston, LLC, which is planning to demolish an automobile dealership, Regency Oldsmobile at 342 East Main St., and construct a new 5,688-square-foot one-story restaurant facility. The chain plans to open the new facility next fall. (Photo by Frederick Gore)
Planning Board to mull permits, zoning changes By DAN MORIARTY Staff Writer WESTFIELD – The Planning Board will review three special permit applications and two zoning amendments tonight, including a change to the CORE district needed to allow for a transit facility. The Board will continue its review of Angelica Estates, an 11-lot subdivision proposed for Northwest Road. The board will also resume its review of the proposed 99 Restaurant & Grill proposed for 342 East Main Street. Both of those special permit applications were continued by the Planning Board while those projects were under review by the Conservation Commission which recently set conditions for both projects. Angelica Estates initially drew a large number of Northwest Road and upper Western Avenue residents for the Conservation Commission review of a wetland replication, but most of the issues raised by residents will be addressed by the Planning Board. The 99 Restaurant & Grill, is seeking
permits needed to demolish the former dealership building and construct a new structure and parking area at 342 East Main St., the site of a former automobile dealership that has been vacant for years. Rob Levesque of R Levesque Associates recently told the Conservation Commission that the property owner is responsible for the demolition and will present a “clean site” to the restaurant chain for construction of a new building and associated parking. The project was reviewed by the Conservation Commission because it is in a flood plain and the petitioner had to present data on compensatory storage. Levesque said the building to be constructed is significantly smaller than the existing building to be demolished and will result in a surplus of compensatory storage. The Planning Board will also hear details of a special permit application to construct a commercial kennel proposed by Alessandra and Nicholas Connor for property at 202 Union
Street. That site is zoned for Industrial A uses. Property owner Ronald Schortmann is seeking a zone change for several parcels of property on Union Street. One Parcel is currently a mixed zone with part of it designated as Residence C and the other part as Industrial A. Schortmann is seeking to rezone the entire parcel as Industrial A property. Schortmann is also seeking to rezone a second parcel at 125 Union St., which is currently zoned Industrial A to partially Residence C land. The Planning Board will also conduct a public hearing to add transit facilities to the uses allowed in the CORE District. The issue was raised during an informal review of the proposed Westfield Transit Pavilion on Arnold Street. The issue raised is that the present CORE district zoning language neither specifically allows nor prohibits a transit facility. The proposed modification of the CORE zoning would specifically allow that use.
defense team was intentionally distorting the facts and had introduced “a falsehood” to the jury. They said Hernandez’s defense had opened the door to evidence about Bradley’s shooting by repeatedly saying Hernandez couldn’t have killed Lloyd because they were friends. The filing says Bradley was Hernandez’s “friend and confidante.” It says on the night of the shooting, Bradley, Hernandez and two other men went together to
Juniper Park talks with Russell to begin
Tootsie’s Cabaret, a strip club in Miami. While there, Hernandez and Bradley got into an argument about how the bar tab would be divided, the filing said. After they left the club, the filing said, Bradley realized he had left his cellphone there and Hernandez refused to go back. Bradley then made “disrespectful remarks” about Hernandez, prosecutors said. See Trial, Page 3
See Juniper, Page 3
Prosecutors want jury told about shooting Susan Garsh ruled in December prosecutors could not introduce evidence about the February 2013 shooting of Alexander Bradley during Hernandez’s murder trial. Hernandez is charged with killing Odin Lloyd, who was dating the sister of Hernandez’s fiancee, in June 2013 in an industrial park near Hernandez’s home. In papers filed Monday, prosecutors argued the judge should reconsider. They wrote that Hernandez’s
See Schedule, Page 3
By PETER FRANCIS Staff Writer WESTFIELD – Months after the Westfield School Committee approved Russell Elementary School as the optimal relocation site for Juniper Park Elementary School students this coming school year, Superintendent Dr. Suzanne Scallion is preparing to meet with the town of Russell’s Selectboard this weekend to discuss an agreement going forward. “At their Town Meeting, the Russell Selectboard was approved to negotiate with us to reach a final lease,” said Scallion. “We’re hoping that we’ll be ready to meet with parents and we’ll be sending a letter out to them the moment it is done.” Scallion added that photos of the school, which lies only a few miles west of Juniper Park on U.S. Route 20, is on the district website for parents who may want to take a look for themselves. “We’ll be arranging for an open house in late April when the snow melts, so they can see the grounds,” she said. “The school really is beautiful.”
HERNANDEZ TRIAL By MICHELLE R. SMITH Associated Press FALL RIVER, Mass. (AP) — Prosecutors in the murder trial of former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez asked the judge Monday to let them tell jurors about his involvement in a friend’s shooting in Florida, saying it contradicts the argument his defense team has presented: He would not shoot a friend. Superior Court Judge
By PETER FRANCIS Staff Writer WESTFIELD – School Superintendent Dr. Suzanne Scallion is looking to see what the community thinks of potentially altering the district’s calender for coming school years. The options of keeping the district’s current schedule or approving a new alternative schedule, both beginning Sept. 1, were proposed at last night’s meeting of the Westfield School Committee. While one of the schedules will follow the traditional school calender and include February and April breaks, the alternative schedule will alter the district’s spring break, effectively remove the February and April breaks, and create a lonDR. SUZANNE ger break in the month of March. SCALLION “We’re putting a survey link on our homepage and asking families and staff to weigh in about which they prefer and whether they create any hardships,” said Scallion. “What we’re going to do in February is add a day to that long Presidents Weekend and make it a four day (weekend). Then in March, we’ll take a six-day break.” According to the Scallion, research has concluded that a break in March enables students to come back fully rested and ready for MCAS (Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment Systems) testing season, and that the timing of Labor Day also necessitates the need to make a change. “Labor Day is very late next year, so if we start then, it pushes us out to late June,” said Scallion. “I think people are OK with a September 1 start. When they start hearing August, they don’t like it.” Scallion said that many schools in Connecticut already employ this type of scheduling and that now more and more
Foreclosure deeds decrease statewide BOSTON – Foreclosure deeds in Massachusetts fell statewide by 27.4 percent in January, according to The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman. Deeds, or completed foreclosures, mark the final step in the foreclosure process. Statewide, there were 257 foreclosures deeds recorded in January, compared with 354 in the same month last year. This marked the lowest number of deeds recorded in any single month since July 2014 when there were 218 completed foreclosures. Foreclosure petition activity in the Bay State increased in January, posting a 70 percent increase Lenders filed a total of 618 foreclosure petitions in January, compared with 364 a year ago. This was the lowest percentage increase reported since
September 2014. Petitions mark the first step in the foreclosure process. “Despite the positive decline in completed foreclosures, we will continue to see petitions increase as long-time delinquent mortgages continue to be processed,” said Timothy M. Warren Jr., CEO of The Warren Group. “What is happening in Massachusetts with increased foreclosure activity is happening nationwide, as lenders continue to wade through a backlog of delinquent mortgages that have yet to be addressed.” The number of auction announcements tracked by The Warren Group jumped 250 percent in January, with 575 announcements compared with 165 in January 2014. This was the highest percentage increase since April 2007 when announcements climbed almost 340 percent year-over-year.
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