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Planning Board recommends Longmeadow Shops zone change article

Date: 1/15/2015

LONGMEADOW – The Planning Board voted unanimously at its Jan. 7 meeting to recommend an article regarding a zone change from residential to business consisting of 1.82 acres between the First Church of Christ, Scientist and the Longmeadow Shops, which will be voted on at the Feb. 3 Special Town Meeting.

Prior to the board’s vote, representatives from Grove Property Fund, owner of the Longmeadow Shops, presented new site and design information regarding parking and traffic for a proposed expansion project that, if the rezoning is approved, could add a CVS with a drive thru pharmacy as well as a potential new retail tenant in the shops.

An article pertaining to the rezoning previously appeared on the Nov. 18 Special Town Meeting warrant, failing to reach the two-thirds majority vote required with 280 in favor with 142 opposed.

A second vote, after a motion to revote, was quickly moved forward on the Town Meeting floor. That failed to receive two-thirds of the vote, 240 to 144. 

Matthew Wittmer, principal architectural designer for Phase Zero Design, said significant improvements area to areas such as dead-end parking rows and entrances.

“In the proposed redesign, we’ve created a much more linear intuitive parking field that’s circulated around the parking spaces,” he added. “The main entrance off of Bliss [Road] has been enlarged and a dedicated left turn and right turn lane has been created so that if a vehicle is coming in to make a left turn and they can’t do that, they’re not going to back traffic up to Williams Street and Bliss Road right now.”

At the other entrances to the Longmeadow Shops, the site design also calls for an elimination of several parking spaces to make way for dedicated access drives, which avoids a vehicle having to back up from a space into an oncoming car that might be entering the shops, Wittmer said.

“Additional parking spaces have been provided throughout the complex for a total gain of 139 spaces,” he added. “And on the west end [of the site] we’re continuing to accommodate extra space for the farmers market as well as parents parking to use the athletic fields.”

Wittmer said the 139 parking spaces achieve 100 percent compliance with the town’s parking requirements. The existing site for parking required a variance by the Zoning Board of Appeals because it only had a 93 percent compliance rate.

Previously, Longmeadow Shops representatives presented its initial plans to the board on Aug. 6, which were about 100 parking spaces short of the zoning bylaw. On Sept. 10, the project was 75 parking spaces short. The 139 parking spaces were announced during the board’s Nov. 7 meeting.

“A lengthy review and approval [process] is going to follow [if the zoning ordinance is approved], which is going to include things like traffic studies and we’ll do some calculations and certainly incorporate comments from town boards and committees that oversee site plan and building design,” Wittmer added.

Planning Board member Donald Holland said originally the board thought there would be concerns related to parking because there were not enough spaces. Improvements to the site design’s increased parking factored into the board’s initial Nov. 7 vote to recommend the zoning article to the Nov. 18 Special Town Meeting warrant.

“You’ve continued to tweak the proposal since the last time you were in front of the Planning Board [on Nov. 7] and I congratulate you on that,” Planning Board Chair Bruce Colton said.

Selectman Paul Santaniello, who addressed the board during the open forum portion of the meeting, said he spoke with Building Commissioner Paul Healy regarding last year’s snowfall and parking in the Longmeadow Shops.

“That whole parking lot to the left was negated because of the snow that was plowed over there,” he added. “And I asked Mr. Healy, ‘Is there anything we can do because it shrinks the parking lot tremendously’ and he said, ‘No.’ So, one of the things is that if this does pass I would like to ask you to consider is that the parking spaces not be used for snow and ice removal because I think it was significant last year the number of spots that were talking away from public parking.”