Zoning Board of Appeals

Zoning Board of Appeals Voting Record and Minutes The Zoning Board of Appeals of the City of Chicopee public hearing for Wednesday September 14, 2022, 6:30 PM in City Hall Annex, Fourth Floor, Chambers Conference Room, 274 Front Street, Chicopee, MA 01013. Meeting was brought to order by Anthony Gallant at 6:30 PM. Board of Appeals attendance: Member Name Present Absent Excused Regular Anthony Gallant, Chair X Regular Carissa Lisee, Vice Chair X Regular Katherine Baldiga, Clerk X Regular Gary Stamborski X Regular Christina Loy X Assoc. Julia Sudol X Assoc. Carlos Felix X Assoc. Thomas Tetreault X Planning Department Staff Attendance Title Name Present Absent Excused Director Lee Pouliot X Development Manager James Dawson X Associate Planner Nick Kiser X Note: Associate Members Carlos Felix and Thomas Tetreault vote in place of Regular Members Christina Loy and Katherine Baldiga who were not in attendance. Item 1: Variance from Chapter 275-40 C (6); 275-40 C (8) (b) and 275-67 K (9) (b) to allow for the following: Parking stall dimension of 9’ x 18’ to 9’ x 16’ for five (5) compact car parking spaces. Pavement setback from a street lot line from 8’ to 3’ and three-bedroom dwelling units in a multi-family development from “not more than 10% of the units” to “24% of the dwelling units.” Location: 10 Southwick St. Chicopee, MA. Applicant: Valley Opportunity Council, Inc. 35 Mount Carmel Ave. Chicopee, MA 01013 Notes: Stephen Huntley from VOC and his legal representative Ellen Freyman presented the request to renew their Variance. The Board was familiar with the request as it was unchanged from the original petition in 2021. Ms. Freyman noted the Special Permit had been renewed by the City Council. VOC is planning on commencing construction within 12 months. There were no public comments at the hearing and Staff noted they had not received any calls on the matter. Motion to approve was made by Carissa Lisee and seconded by Anthony Gallant. Vote was 5-0 to approve. Member Voting members Approve Deny Table Abstain Regular Anthony Gallant, Chair X Regular Carissa Lisee, Vice Chair X Regular Gary Stamborski X Assoc Carlos Felix X Assoc Thomas Tetreault X 1 Item 2: Variance from Chapter 275-48 Frontage from 125’ to 100’ and area from 12,500 SF to 10,000 SF to construct a single-family house on a lot without a sanitary sewer connection. Location: Dobek Ave. Chicopee, MA. Assessor Map 355, Parcels 11 and 12A Applicant: Donna Cabot, 52 Deep Brook Harbor, Suffield, CT 06078 Notes: The Applicant, Donna Cabot, presented her petition to the Board. She explained the property has been undeveloped for over 30 years and there are other lots in the area of similar size. Staff noted this area of the City has no sanitary sewer and therefore lots must be able to accommodate septic systems. Zoning Regulations require a septic building lot to be 100’ x 125’ and 12,500 SF of area. Ms. Cabot noted she had communicated with the Building Commissioner whom she said supported the Variance. Two Abutters spoke on the Variance both wanted the property “cleaned up”, one was not in favor of a new house on the lot. Planning Staff explained to the Board it had communicated with the Health Department on the issue. It was the Health Director’s opinion that the Board not approve the Variance until the Applicant provided information to the Health Department and it was determined that the lot would be able accommodate a properly sized septic system that would pass a perk test. Ms. Cabot stated other lots in the neighborhood passed perk tests without issue. The Board noted each lot is different and just because one lot passes the test others may not due to soil conditions. The Board inquired about approving the Variance with a condition that no permits be issued until the Board of Health approves the septic system. Staff recommended against a conditioned approval and suggested the Board table the decision until they had the necessary information from the Board of Health. The Board voted to table their decision to the October 12, 2022 meeting to allow the Applicant time to obtain necessary information from the Board of Health. Motion to table the hearing to October 12, 2022 was made by Carissa Lisee and seconded by Anthony Gallant. Vote was 5-0 to table to October 12, 2022. Member Voting members Approve Deny Table Abstain Regular Anthony Gallant, Chair X Regular Carissa Lisee, Vice Chair X Regular Gary Stamborski X Assoc Carlos Felix X Assoc Thomas Tetreault X Item 3: Variance from Chapter 275-40 C (7) (b) Width of interior travel lanes for one-way circulation from 14’ to 12’ to allow for the construction of an automatic tunnel car wash. Location: 1339 Memorial Dr. Chicopee, MA. Applicant: Jim Waterman – Garnett Reynolds Holdings, LLC, 5 Dupras Rd., Tyngsboro, MA 01879 Notes: The Applicant presented the petition to the Board. The request is to allow one-way interior travel lanes on the property of a proposed tunnel-type car wash to be constructed at 12’ wide as opposed to the required 14’. Staff noted the car wash project had been subject to a Site Plan Review Advisory Committee (SPRAC) review and the proposed reduced travel lanes were approved by the Fire Department. There were no public comments at the meeting, nor were there any brought to the attention of the Planning Department. Motion to approve was made by Anthony Gallant and seconded by Carissa Lisee. Vote was 5-0 to approve. Member Voting members Approve Deny Table Abstain Regular Anthony Gallant, Chair X Regular Carissa Lisee, Vice Chair X Regular Gary Stamborski X Assoc Carlos Felix X Assoc Thomas Tetreault X 2 Item 4: Variance from Chapter 275-52 Frontage from 100’ to 90’ +/-, area from 10,000 SF to 6,726 +/- SF, depth from 100’ to 74’ +/-, and rear yard setback from 25’ to 20’ to allow for the construction of a single-family house on a reduced sized lot. Location: Granville Ave., Chicopee, MA. Assessor Map 275, Parcel 53. Applicant: Alexander Titar, 320 East St. Chicopee, MA 01020 Notes: The Applicant, Alexander Titar, presented his petition to the Board. He stated he spoke to abutters and there did not appear to be any opposition to his application. Mr. Titar presented a petition to the Board signed by Abutters in support of his Variance. The Board discussed the Variance request and if the proposed house would fit on the lot without a rear yard setback Variance. They determined a house could be built on the lot without a rear yard setback variance but ultimately approved the Variance as presented. Motion to approve was made by Anthony Gallant and seconded by Carissa Lisee. Vote was 5-0 to approve. Member Voting members Approve Deny Table Abstain Regular Anthony Gallant, Chair X Regular Carissa Lisee, Vice Chair X Regular Gary Stamborski X Assoc Carlos Felix X Assoc Thomas Tetreault X Item 5: Minutes from August 10, 2022 Motion to approve was made by Carissa Lisee and seconded by Gary Stamborski. Vote was 5-0 to approve. Member Voting members Approve Deny Table Abstain Regular Anthony Gallant, Chair X Regular Carissa Lisee, Vice Chair X Regular Gary Stamborski X Assoc Carlos Felix X Assoc Thomas Tetreault X Item 6: Discussion - Old/New Business Notes: The Board inquired about filing fees and if adequate funds were being collected to cover the cost of legal ads and mailings. Staff reported that adequate funds were being collected. Staff noted there were three new Variances on the October 12, 2022 agenda in addition to the tabled item from the current meeting. Item 7: Adjournment - next scheduled meeting is October 12, 2022 Motion to adjourn was made by Anthony Gallant and seconded by Carissa Lisee. Vote was 5-0 to adjourn. Member Voting members Approve Deny Table Abstain Regular Anthony Gallant, Chair X Regular Carissa Lisee, Vice Chair X Regular Gary Stamborski X Assoc Carlos Felix X Assoc Thomas Tetreault X Meeting adjourned at 7:22 PM. 3