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Date: 4/27/2021
HATFIELD – The Hatfield Planning Board hosted a Public Hearing on April 14 to discuss the consideration of an amendment to Town Zoning Map by changing a portion of Map 211-32 at 137 North Hatfield Rd. RR 1.
As a board, they voted 3-2, to advance to Town Meeting.
Town Meeting will take place on May 11 at 6 p.m., at the Lions Club Pavilion.
Stephanie Slysz, Planning Board chair, said the purpose of this is to redesign and rezone the parcel to all light industrial. This will essentially get rid of the rural residential part of the parcel.
“If the vote is yes at Town Meeting, this would unlock this light industrial access and open doors for a variety of businesses that fit,” explained Slysz.
She added, if the vote is a no, they would keep the area as is, including the rural and backend with light industrial. Mostly houses would be allowed to remain.
Currently, there is no way to have businesses located and access the light industrial part of the parcel, due to the all rural residential frontage.
Slysz said, when this area was rezoned in the early 2000s, the idea was to put in a business park accessible for Route 5 and 10. The frontage on North Hatfield Road was a neighborhood that wanted to remain and have access to.
Now, the town has this 9.4 acre parcel with two different zones.
In 2012, the Planning Board voted and granted a permit to allow Omasta Landscaping, located in Hadley, to move to their parcel at 123 N. Hatfield Rd., but they never did. Now, the Omastas say they want to move their business to 137 N. Hatfield Rd.
Slysz said without the Omastas, they would have never pursued the zone change for 137 N. Hatfield Rd.
“The idea was brought forth by looking and purchasing the property to move Omasta Landscaping,” explained Slysz.
However, Slysz said the voting will be just on the approval for zoning – without potential advocates.
Public hearing participants shared their thoughts on the zoning change, explaining that there’s already a lot of traffic on North Hatfield Road and adding more businesses could potentially make this worse.
Slysz said currently, it appears Yellow Ribbon Trucking, operating by Omasta’s son, is utilizing the 123 parcel without a permit.
There is no trucking allowed in the light industrial zone. Some people are concerned that the Omastas want the rezoning to have their landscaping business on one parcel and Yellow Ribbon Trucking on the other.
The Omasta’s true intentions are unknown at the time.
Slysz said, the full public hearing on the zone change will soon be available for viewing on the Hatfield Community Television Youtube page.