Planning Board continues hearing

Date: 9/8/2009

By Courtney Llewellyn

Reminder Assistant Editor



EAST LONGMEADOW The saga of Nick the Plumber will continue to another Planning Board meeting.

Nicholas Chiusano, owner of NJC Enterprises Inc., doing business as Nick's Plumbing and Heating, handed in his application for a home-based trade special permit before the deadline last year, but discussions about his business have been ongoing since March 31.

He met with the Planning Board again on Sept. 1 with documents proving that he and his sister are co-owners of the business. On his application, Chiusano listed only himself as owner; at the meeting on July 27, he noted that his sister is a co-owner.

Chiusano moved from his home on John Street to a new home on Pleasant Street since filing his special permit application. His goal is to run his plumbing business from the home on John Street.

"To get a special permit, they have to own the business, live at the address and own the property," Robyn Macdonald, director of Planning, Zoning and Conservation, said. "If they can't prove that, they won't get a special permit."

Chiusano provided the Planning Board with telephone, heating oil, gas and electric bills from both locations, which board members Don Anderson and Michael Przybylowicz want Town Counsel James Donahue to review before voting on the special permit application.

"His sister is an owner of the company; Nick owns the house and she is a sibling," Gary Landers of the East Longmeadow Small Business Association stated during the most recent public hearing. "He's covered at John Street."

Chiusano explained that he owns 99 of the shares in his business, while his sister owns one. Anderson was still concerned over the interpretation of ownership, however.

"We may own a few shares of Ford or Microsoft, but that doesn't mean we can show up at those companies and say, 'Take care of me,'" Anderson stated. He added that he's being very careful about his decision on ownership of home-based trades because the board is setting a precedent with Chiusano.

Planning Board members Peter Punderson and George Kingston were ready to vote at last Tuesday's meeting, but Anderson and Przybylowicz wanted input from Town Counsel first.

A continuation of Chiusano's hearing is scheduled for Sept. 15 at 6:45 p.m.