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Date: 2/26/2020
WESTFIELD – The Planning Board recently voted unanimously to recommend the city’s acceptance of several private roads as public ways.
The board will pass its favorable opinion on turning Devon Terrace, Gloria Drive, Hillary Lane, Nancy Circle, Frank Circle, Rachel Terrace and Hillcrest Circle into city-owned roads to the City Council, who will need to provide final approval.
Ward 6 City Councilor Bill Onyski, who appeared before the board at its Feb. 18 meeting to appeal for the acceptance of these private roads, said he hoped the council would make their decision in March.
Stating that he couldn’t remember any road acceptances during his time on the council and the Planning Board, Onyski said the move was essentially “testing” the process that had been established. In accordance with that, he indicated the matter had already been addressed and approved by the Board of Public Works and the city engineer. The Law Department had also vetted the issue, Onyski said.
During his presentation, Onyski indicated there were 214 private ways in Westfield and 73 of them were located in Ward 6.
“There’s some history on this,” he said. “Areas around Hampton Ponds, for instance, started with a driveway to a house that was a cottage and then got extended to another property and so on. Also, Ward 6 has got an inordinate amount because there were a lot of houses built in the late 90s and early 2000s … The right way to do this is before the developer leaves the development, they transfer the rights of the property itself to the city. However, what’s happened in a lot of cases – all these streets included – is the developer doesn’t transfer the property to the city.”
The city plows these private roads, collects garbage and performs other services, but there are complications for landowners. In one example, Onyski explained that because of the way a deed was written, the property could not be sold if it was not on a public way. The city would be responsible for necessary road repairs and while he said there could be additional Chapter 90 funding because of the additional mileage, it would likely be minimal.
Walmart also recently received the green light to expand its pick-up services at its Springfield Street location.
The Planning Board unanimously approved a site permit that will allow the store to extend its parking area for online grocery order pickups, ending a lengthy string of delays, concerns and continuations.
The board previously heard from Walmart representatives in December 2019 and had expressed concerns regarding the circulation of trucks in the parking lot and the public hearing was continued to the February meeting.
Perry Petrillo, the architect on the project, indicated a chain barrier requested by the board at the southwest corner of the building to prevent truck and personal vehicle circulation around the building, but after discussions with Walmart designers changed that chain to a double-swing gate with a locking mechanism in the center.
“We felt that a gate was a more visible and secure way to do that,” he said.
A lockbox with a key would be placed in accordance with the Fire Department’s requests and “Do Not Enter” signs would be installed.
“Obviously with the gate system in place, it kind of eliminates any truck traffic from coming through the front portion of the site that the board was concerned with,” Petrillo said.
Petrillo also addressed concerns of alcohol being available for purchase through online ordering, stating it would not be possible.
“That is not even an option,” he said. “Walmart agrees that there is no alcohol at online grocery pickup.”
Trailers and shelving that were seen as troubling were also removed, Petrillo stated. Several members of the board confirmed they had been through the area prior to the meeting and it had been cleaned up.