West Springfield Town Council breezes through agenda

Date: 8/21/2014

WEST SPRINGFIELD – The Aug. 18 meeting of the Town Council was relatively uneventful, with only a few items on the agenda – two of which were public hearings that were postponed.

Councilors Brian Clune, Brian Griffin and George Condon III were absent. The small audience of less than 20 was comprised of mostly town officials and a handful of residents.

The two public hearings scheduled to address the Marijuana Ordinance and Nail Salon Zoning Amendment was postponed to Sept. 2 and Oct. 20, respectively.

During the Citizen Speak Out portion of the meeting, resident Irene Schuh spoke out against Internet gambling.

In response, Council President John Sweeney noted that the Memorial Corridor Overlay District “prohibits Internet gaming.” He added, “In fact, it’s never allowed anywhere [within town limits per current zoning rules].”

In other action, the council approved the following re-appointments whose terms will expire Jan. 1, 2017: Douglas Goodman to the Planning & Construction Committee and William Schlien to the Park & Recreation Committee.

Joseph Laplante, director of the Office of Community Development, and Gary Roux, principal planner for the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission (PVPC), highlighted some of the main points of the Merrick and Memorial neighborhood study to the council, which the PVPC completed in June.

The final report is available online at www.pvpc.org/projects/merrick-and-memorial-neighborhood-study.

“The majority of the recommendations are both concrete and do-able,” Laplante said, adding that the projects can be broken into phases to ensure the required funding is in place before the work commences.

Roux said that the study looked at creating “complete streets” that address the needs of all users including drivers, pedestrians and cyclists.

Roux said that consideration of details such as pavement markings, landscaping and crosswalk widths were all part of the proposed improvements. He stated that Baldwin Street is the only road where a bike lane is recommended as an addition.