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School Committee learns impacts of zoning overlay

Date: 11/24/2010

Nov. 24, 2010

By G. Michael Dobbs

Managing Editor

CHICOPEE -- The School Committee learned last week the plan to create a zoning overlay in the downtown district that caused controversy earlier in the year is different than the zoning overlay for senior housing being considered by city officials.

Several members of the School Committee had attended City Council meetings earlier this year to question the zoning overlay proposal for downtown and how it could affect increasing the number of school age children in that area.

The present proposal "gives us another tool in the tool box" when addressing future development, City Councilor James Tillotson told the committee.

Katherine Brown, the city's planner, explained the new zoning overlay applies specifically to nursing homes, assisted living complexes and housing projects for people over the age of 55.

If a developer wanted to build one of these three facilities, they would first apply for the overlay and than for a special permit. The City Council would have two opportunities to approve or disapprove the proposed plan, Brown explained.

The zoning overlay would not allow a developer to plan a senior facility and then change to another kind of housing -- a provision to the overlay proposed for the downtown area that concerned some people.

The kind of projects allowed by the overlay would not have an impact on the city's schools, Tillotson said.

"Chances that a large number of children [in an overlay district] would be pretty slim," he said.

Tillotson said the new zoning ordinance still has several meetings and votes to go through before it can become law, but he anticipated it could be on the city's books by Jan. 1, 2011.



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David Amo, the president of the Ward Six Athletic Association, also spoke at the meeting and asked the School Committee to take steps to correct the deteriorating gymnasium at the Litwin School.

He said the asbestos floor tiles frequently loosen and pose a safety issue for the young people in athletic programs. He reported recently stopping a count at 27 missing tiles.

He also asked that current school policy prohibiting the use of the gym before 7 p.m. be changed as the later hours are not appropriate for the first, second and third graders in the programs.



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William Howe, the president of the Chicopee Education Association (CEA) also spoke to the committee refuting the accuracy of a comment made at a recent School Committee meeting alleging in the past the teachers union had informed members not to get involved with bullying incidents.

Howe said that none of the union's officers had ever said anything like that. He added Chicopee teachers have fought bullying or decades.

"We're on the frontline every day ... Where was the administration? Where was the mayor?" Howe asked.

He said the CEA is profoundly concerned about the issue of bullying.



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