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Date: 1/25/2022
HOLYOKE – At one point in the Holyoke City Council meeting that took place on Jan. 18, Council President Todd McGee commented, “Maybe it will be the night of the scrivener’s error.”
A scrivener’s error is defined as “an unintentional mistake in the drafting of a contract.” McGee was referring to several errors in special permits and ordinances under consideration by the council that provoked considerable discussion.
Among those were several permits involving cannabis businesses that lacked what several councilors believed was a necessary component: a buffer zone of 200 feet.
ACMJ Inc. was asking for a special permit for a marijuana cultivation and processing establishment at 521 Main St. and Cannalive LLC to operate a marijuana manufacturing establishment at 532 Main St, Suite 301.
The special permits brought by the Committee on Ordinance to the council for approval each had the following conditions:
Councilor Kevin Jourdain said what was missing from the special permit language was a requirement of a 200-foot buffer zone surrounding the businesses from other businesses and residences. Because denying the special permit would have meant the two businesses would not have been able to re-apply for another two years, he suggested the council deny without prejudice and then amend the ordinance that governs cannabis businesses.
Attorney Michael Bissonnette, representing the city’s Law Department, when asked about the issue of a buffer zone said the ordinance, that had been approved last April, had a placeholder numeral of a zero where 200 should have been.
Bissonnette said the error “was on the city. It’s a mistake.” He suggested rescinding the ordinance in question with a two-thirds vote and moving forward on a vote about the permits.
Councilor David Bartley made a motion to add another condition to the existing permits, one that would require the businesses to comply with city and state health laws about odor controls for the duration of the permit.
Jourdain, objecting to the additional provision as a substitute for a buffer zone, said, “We’re not making sausages, we’re making law here … we have to do things right.” He added a letter from the Law Department spoke of a 200-foot buffer.
Councilor Joseph McGiverin noted there have been no complaints of odors from any of the city’s existing cannabis businesses.
Ultimately, the two special permits were approved with the addition of the amendment from Bartley. A third special permit from H&H Holdings Inc for a Marijuana Establishment at 40-48 Main St. was also amended with the Bartley amendment.
The Committee on Ordinance also re-examined the current ordinance “which only specifies that the snow and ice shall be removed from the entire width of the sidewalk on all portions of streets on which parking meters are installed but does not state this for residential zones.”
It was amended to read:
"(a) No owner or person in control of an estate abutting upon any street, lane, court, or square within the city where there is a sidewalk shall place or suffer to remain for more than 24 hours any snow upon such sidewalk, or any ice upon such sidewalk unless such ice is made even and covered with sand, sawdust, ashes or other suitable material to prevent slipping; nor shall any person place any ice or snow onto other private property or public ways. This section shall apply to snow or ice which may have fallen from any building upon such sidewalk and to snow which may have accumulated upon such sidewalk by drifting, and to ice formed from water running or accumulating upon such sidewalk.
(b) On all portions of streets on which parking meters are installed, all snow and ice shall be removed from the entire width of the sidewalk within eight hours after the cessation of any snowstorm.
The committee noted to the full council, “We are currently having issues with the owner of 921 Dwight St., Holyoke, MA, in which he does not abide by the ordinance and when he finally gets to complying he shovels out a 12-inch pad as wide as the shovel in his corner lot located on Linden and Dwight Street. Residents have raised their avid discontent in the matter, the Holyoke Police Department and Board of Health have tied resources in the matter and as most recent as this last snowstorm it appears that the owner is not aware of his property lines and responsibility … Recommended that the order be adopted.”
The difficulty was also an apparent mistake in consistency of the forms given to the councilors. Some had an ordinance that read 24 hours would be the time in which property owners had to clean up after a storm on sidewalks with parking meters, while others had documents that read eight hours.
The council decided to table the discussion, sending the ordinance back to the Law Department to fix the inconsistency and give all property owners 24 hours to clean up after a storm.
The council did approve a change to Holyoke municipal code, Sec 14-5, (a),(1), a. The language of this code reads as: “A dog may be off restraint if under adequate voice control of a person, and that person has a leash in their possession. A dog which does not respond to commands of the person in control of such animal is not under restraint. This language, especially ‘if under adequate voice control,’ is overly subjective and does nothing to protect another person or animal from injury should a dog owner not maintain control of their dog.”
The council also approved Mayor Joshua Garcia’s recommendations for members of the Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) for the Office of Community Development. Those included: Terry Gibson, Russell J. McNiff Jr., Victor Machado, Willie Spradley. Their terms will expire on June 30.