Board reviews petitioned articles for Annual Town Meeting

Date: 4/6/2009

By Courtney Llewellyn

Reminder Assistant Editor



EAST LONGMEADOW Now that the deadline for petitioned warrant articles for the Annual Town Meeting has passed, it is up to town officials whether or not they will be recommended to voters.

The Planning Board met last Tuesday to discuss two petitioned articles for bylaw changes on which they have been asked to put their stamp of approval.

The first article, submitted by Jay Lefebvre, would allow for multi-family housing in industrial zones for those aged 55 and up.

"I feel there is a need in this time [for this type of housing]," Lefebvre told the Planning Board. He noted that the town s Community Development Plan of 2004 also found there was a need for 55 and older housing.

"Eighty-nine percent of houses in East Longmeadow are single family," Lefebvre stated. "There is a segment of the population not being serviced by the housing in this town. For those 55-plus, if they don t want a single family house, they have to move out of town."

He added that the housing "supply is not keeping up with the demand."

Lefebvre s attorney said the specifics of what would be allowed would be set at a special permit hearing, and that there would be no more than 25 one- or two-bedroom units per acre. He noted that having the units built in an industrial zone would put older adults near the center of town.

A tenants' association would be established so that only those 55 and older would be allowed to rent the units.

Lefebvre and his attorney also noted in their preliminary layout of the plans that there would be 1.5 parking spaces per unit; the Planning Board felt this was not enough, especially considering how active those in their 50s and 60s are.

One town resident asked if it was appropriate to have housing in an industrial zone, since establishing business there could bring more money into town.

"I believe there are areas outside of this industrial zone that would support this [proposal]; I think this bylaw would prevent this [development in another zone]," Marilyn Richards said. The former Planning Board chair was invited by current chair Tom Morrissette to serve as a consultant on this topic. "I support the concept. I think it s super for what the town could use."

Richards added that she would like to see this type of housing be site-based rather than zone-based.

The board decided to continue the hearing after the April 14 elections, when a new member will be joining the Planning Board; the hearing is tentatively scheduled for April 28 at 7:30 p.m.

Gary Landers, a board member of the East Longmeadow Small Business Association (ELSBA), and Eric Ottoson, owner of New England Swedescape, a home-based trade, met with the Planning Board to discuss a small amendment to the home-based trade bylaw that would allow a business to be based in a home if that home belonged to an immediate relative of the business owner and the business owner also resides there.

This amendment would allow Ottoson and two or three other home-based tradesmen to continue to operate their businesses in their homes.

"There would be no change to the dates in the bylaw itself," Landers explained. This would not allow new businesses to be permitted; it would still only allow those who had been in business before the beginning of 2008.

The only new date added would be Aug. 18, 90 days after the Annual Town Meeting, during which time those few applicants that would fall under this amendment would be allowed to submit applications for a special permit.

"You had ample time to realize you didn't own the house," Planning Board member Peter Punderson told Ottoson. "[Making this change] takes away a little bit of our credibility [but] ... I m not against this."

It s a very small technicality, Landers said.

Landers told Reminder Publications that he and the other members of ELSBA worked closely with the Planning Board to come up with the original bylaw and the reason they are seeking this amendment is because the association "had a couple of cases that were heartbreakers."

"We're not trying to 'get away with anything,'" Landers stated.

"The Planning Board actually had this idea."

Planning Board Clerk George Kingston moved that the board recommend this bylaw change at Annual Town Meeting on May 18, and his motion was unanimously approved.