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| By Sarah M. Corigliano Assistant Managing Editor LONGMEADOW Last week, Bay Path College announced that it filed an appeal with the Hampden County Housing Court in response to the Longmeadow Planning Board's denial of its parking "site and design review" plan in April. Kathleen Bourque, Bay Path's Vice President for Institutional Advancement, said the Housing Court is the next step in the town for dealing with the Board's decision. "From my understanding, this appeal does eventually go to the Zoning Board of Appeals," she explained. "But [a technicality in the town bylaws] instructs you to file at the Housing Court." Bourque said Bay Path officials are appealing the decision so that they can "better understand" the options for future parking plans. "We couldn't come up with an immediate solution [following the failure of the parking plan on April 5], and we had 'x' number of days to file an appeal," Bourque said. "This enables us to continue dialogue with the town and understand what our options may be." She added that the appeal does not seek a "definitive end gain," but rather begins the "process of how we can solve the parking challenges that we have." The clarification sought deals mostly with lot line technicalities, Bourque explained. She said the Planning Board had concerns with parking in the back of the campus and the technicalities and use of a retaining wall there. "The issue of clarifying doesn't seem to have any credibility," said Bill Knaus, spokesperson for the Arlington Road Neighborhood Association, in response to the College's announcement that it had filed an appeal of the Planning Board's decision. Knaus said the college does have a parking solution which is to pave over the green space in front of its academic buildings. He cited a court case against Radcliffe College, in which the college's neighbors and the local Planning Board agreed that their parking plans would be detrimental to the surrounding community. "The judge said 'do you have a green? ... then that is where you will put your cars,'" Knaus said. "Bay Path could probably store several hundred cars [if they paved in front of their buildings]. It's not that they don't have a choice, it's that they don't want to exercise the choice." Knaus said the parking plan was rejected by the Planning Board because it did not fit the "nature, character and landscape" of the surrounding neighborhood or the greater Longmeadow community. "The town has always maintained they would like to support the college's growth. As long as it does not directly and negatively impact an established residential neighborhood," Knaus added. |