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Date: 10/20/2021
WESTHAMPTON – A local business got an important OK from the town that will allow for its continued growth.
The Planning Board at its Oct. 12 meeting approved Julia Volkman’s application for a change of business use for the property at 192 North Rd., the space formerly known as the Strawbale Cafe.
The address is new, resulting from the creation of a new parcel split off from the property at 188 North Rd., Planning Board Chair Susan Bronstein explained to Reminder Publishing.
Volkman filed the application as part of her plan to move her business, Maitri Learning, into a larger space to accommodate growing business demands while also creating better accessibility for employees and deliveries, she told the board.
“I’m running it right now in Westhampton in my house in an in-law apartment up on Tob Hill Road, which, if you’ve ever been you know it is an adventure every time you drive up here. The delivery drivers, it’s really fun,”?Volkman said jokingly. “My company has grown and we’d like to have a bigger space that has better access to a main road and where my employees can have a little more room to work and to be.”
Maitri Learning is an educational publishing company specializing in Montesori materials such as books and flash cards while also producing specialty aprons and mats. Volkman reported her team consists of six people, including herself, working in the office as well as one remote employee. One of the in-office employees is part-time.
“It’s a small group and we don’t have plans to grow beyond that number at this stage,” she said.
Volkman claimed the business has minimal impact on the town outside of courier deliveries throughout the week, a bulk delivery of paper roughly bi-weekly and a pallet of laminate delivered once a month.
“We try to run it as a green business,”?she added. “We really care about the impact of the business on the environment, so we’re careful about what we use, what we purchase and how we recycle or dispose of it.”
Asked by board member Adam Brunet about the noise created by the business, Volkman equated the printing equipment used by the business as similar to office equipment such as laser printers, laminators and coil inserters and said it would rarely be heard outside of the building
Volkman’s husband, Adam Brunet chimed in, “I live in the house with the business right now and it never wakes me up.”
Having been in the current location, board member Wade Clement said the business uses similar equipment to Puffersigns on Union Street in Easthampton or a copy center like Kinkos.
“People’s home garage makes more noise,” he said.
Volkman also noted she had plans to build an addition to the building off the back that would be minimally visible from the road. Additionally she said they would convert the commercial kitchen to a residential kitchen and a half bathroom into a full bathroom so the property could be sold as a residential property when that time arrives. No changes would be necessary to the parking on the property.
“It really will be up to the town what the future use of the building will be when and if the time comes to sell,” she said.
During the public hearing, North Road neighbor Ron Rancourt said he had no worries about the business’ impact, stating between truck traffic and blasting in the area from the nearby construction quarry, “her noise is not going to compare.”
He added, “As a neighbor a couple hundred yards away, it’s not going to bother us whatsoever, especially with only six cars going there.”
Rancourt and his wife Linda added they didn’t foresee a major traffic issue, pointing to existing residential deliveries from services such as UPS and Amazon.
Kate O’Connor, who lives across the street from the property also said the traffic that would enter and exit the cafe didn’t bother them and predicted there would be less traffic from Maitri. She also noted restaurant noise was minimal, so she believes the building was adequately soundproof.
After the application was approved unanimously, Volkman said once the Maitri had settled into its new location, she hoped to have an event to welcome the public.