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Date: 11/16/2022
WEST SPRINGFIELD – Basing most kinds of businesses on residential property will remain illegal, after the Town Council failed to pass an amendment to the town’s zoning ordinance this month.
Despite a long discussion and several amendments on Nov. 7, not enough councilors were willing to support the measure, which proponents – including some councilors as well as Mayor William Reichelt – had touted as a long-awaited reform to give town residents flexibility to be entrepreneurs or contractors.
District 1 Councilor Michael Eger, who represents the most densely populated portion of town, said the proposal would have particularly benefited residents who do their work outside the home but need a place to park their work vehicle and store their tools.
“It’s a common complaint,” said Eger. “People come to me and say, ‘Hey, I need this business license but because the job requires me to have a vehicle to transport the tools, I can’t get a permit.’” He said being able to legally park their trucks at home would open economic opportunities to residents of his district who “live on the fringes.”
The vote was five in favor, three against, but as a zoning change, it needed six votes to pass. Councilors Anthony DiStefano, Michael LaFlamme and Daniel O’Brien voted against the proposal. Councilor Brian Griffin was not present.
DiStefano said he worried that the proposal “degrades the value of residential neighborhoods.”
“For someone like me, you choose where you live because of the characteristics of the neighborhood,” said DiStefano. “There are different zones, different regulations, for that reason. I don’t want to buy a house in a residential district only to potentially have someone park a three-quarter-ton F350 [truck with a] diesel engine. … I don’t want to do a disservice to the residential homeowners, who vastly outnumber those homeowners who want to operate a piece of a business out of their home.”
Before failing the pass the proposal, councilors adopted several amendments to it. One was designed to address DiStefano’s concern by limiting the types of businesses that would be allowed to park a work vehicle at a residential property. Eger voted against that amendment, arguing that it would remove trades from the proposal, and most of those workers’ trucks are the same model as pickup trucks owned for recreation.
“What’s the difference [between] them towing a Jet Ski or having some tools in there and going to work?” he asked. “These are vehicles a consumer can have. But the moment you change the plates from consumer to commercial, it changes the legality of it and it seems, why would we vote against someone making a living?”
O’Brien said once businesses are allowed in residential areas, it will be difficult to enforce restrictions, such as requirements about who can work in the business or restrictions on where the work trucks can be parked.
“Basically, what I was told was ‘You can call on your neighbor if it needs to be enforced,’” said O’Brien. “I don’t want to call on my neighbor and be the ordinance police.”
The town’s zoning ordinance already allows certain businesses in residential districts, as long as no more than one-third of the dwelling unit is used for business purposes and no person outside the family unit is employed. These include “customary home occupation uses, such as dressmaking,” as well as physicians, optometrists, dentists, accountants, architects, artists, engineers, lawyers, musicians and teachers.
Councilor Sean Powers said the new proposal would have updated the existing law to “make it more inclusive.”
“Right now, the language that’s on the books actually prevents a decent amount of entrepreneurs from starting their businesses,” Powers said.
The updates were submitted to the council earlier this year as part of Reichelt’s economic development agenda for 2022.
Council President Edward Sullivan stepped down from the chair to propose changing the language of the ordinance to ensure that any home-based businesses that might bother their neighbors are allowed only to store tools and vehicles at home, not to do any manufacturing.
Councilors also adopted an amendment that would have limited the operating hours for home-based businesses to 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays. The restrictions would apply only to business activities carried out on the residential premises, and would not have limited a worker’s ability to drive to a different location, such as a construction site for a plumber, or a student’s home for a music teacher, during other hours.