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The Westfield News The Westfield News Serving Westfield, Southwick, and surrounding Hilltowns Serving Westfield, Southwick, and surrounding Hilltowns
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Planning Board Makes decision on proposed dog kennel By DAN DESROCHERS Correspondent WESTFIELD—The Westfield Planning Board last night did not approve of a special permit for a proposed dog kennel facility on Southwick Road. The Planning Board voted four to two in favor of the special permit for the proposed kennel at Zuber’s at 98 Southwick Road last night, which was not enough to approve the permit due to at least five members being needed to approve. Concerns were voiced about the proposal due to noise, amount of dogs at the site and questions of how dog waste would be disposed of and stored. Previously, the board had chosen to continue the public hearing to yesterday’s date, after an interpretation from Planning Board Chairman Philip McEwan questioned whether a commercial kennel could be allowed in business A zoning, which is where the proposal is. The city’s law department provided a memorandum for the Planning Board cautioning that denial for the use listed however, could lead to litigation, according to a letter read by Planning Board member Bill Carellas. The proposal, according to Rob Levesque from R Levesque Associates, would be an indoor-only facility housing dogs in two buildings, with sound insulation. There would be a potential for up to 80 dogs to be at the location at a given time, which could be a combination of boarding, grooming and day care. The sound insulation was to include 6-inch sound insulation with acoustic tiling. As for dog waste, such as urine and feces,
District makes headway with deferred maintenance projects By AMY PORTER Correspondent WESTFIELD – Abner Gibbs Elementary School on West Silver Street is on its way to getting a new roof on the annex behind the gym, according to Westfield Public Schools Chief Financial Officer Ronald R. Rix. “We had issues with the roof last year, and did extensive patching to get it through the spring with the intent to do major repairs or a replacement,” Rix said. The money for the roof was put into the budget for deferred maintenance projects. Rix said they did an assessment of the roof in July, and were told it had extensive damage. In August, samples of the roof were taken, which showed two roofs. Bid specifications were made up and advertised in September for three weeks. The district received five proposals, and went with the lowest bid of $16,000 for a complete new 3,500 square foot PVC membrane roof going to R&H Roofing in Easthampton. Rix said they will tear off the old roof, put on a coating, membrane and cover. He said they got “lucky,” as the bid was almost half of some of the companies, because the vendor had some material in stock. See Abner Gibbs, Page 8
Abner Gibbs Elementary School will be getting a new roof on its annex in the next couple of weeks, according to district CFO Ron Rix. (WNG File Photo)
it was proposed that it would be cleaned up and thrown away and possibly stored eventually inside of a covered dumpster. Also, there were previous concerns about nearby wetlands, but Levesque said that the inclusion of the facility to indoors resolved issues with the Conservation Commission about those wetlands. Levesque said that regarding noise, the business would be harmed by excessive noise. “From a noise standpoint these people do not want a problem, it would be catastrophic to their business,” he said. According to Levesque, they attempted to address the city’s noise ordinance during the process, which he said does not allow nuisance noise from pets within 150 feet of neighbors. In addition, he said that noise regulations in the zoning require 60 decibel maximum during night time and 65 decibel maximum during the day time and the noise produced from the building would be below that. He also said that the potential for noise pollution is mitigated by the facility being completely indoors, sound insulation, distance from other residences and even ambient noise from the street. “We feel that we’ve dealt with the noise issue,” he said. Residents though, voiced concerns about the noise that may be coming from the location. One resident, Tanya Grater, said that she contacted those that may manufacture the building to see how well the sound-proofing works. Grater said that she found that the sound-proofing’s maximum effectiveness would be a 28-decibel reduction, according to a study done by the company on one of their buildings.
Rob Levesque discusses the plans for a proposed dog kennel facility during the Planning Board meeting Nov. 21. She said after the meeting that the high point of a dog’s bark can average 125 decibels. “This city, by approving this site, it is going to say that it is going to essentially violate its own ordinance,” Grater said. Among other concerns brought forward by residents included what would occur with dog waste. Kristen Mello voiced concern about dog waste and its potential to contaminate nearby wetlands which are downhill from the facility, even if it were discarded as trash, also suggesting that it be handled See Dog Kennel, Page 3
Organizations looking to raise money for new Veterans Memorial foyer A portion of Cowles Bridge, which is along Southwick Road.
Cowles Bridge waiver for WFD imminent By DAN DESROCHERS Correspondent WESTFIELD—According to Rep. John Velis, the city is expected to receive a waiver for several Westfield Fire Department vehicles to use Cowles Bridge this week. According to Velis, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) is expected to be giving waivers for four of five Westfield Fire Department (WFD) vehicles, along with speed restrictions, later this week via mail. The department received a request in August from MassDOT to not utilize Cowles Bridge along Routes 10 and 202 due to weight restrictions that were previously in place. “We are grateful for the support of our local and state officials and will implement the changes as soon as we receive official notification,” WFD Chief Mary Regan said via email. “We solved the emergency response time aspect of this,” Velis said. “The hope is that this satisfies all of the emergency response times we need to do.” According to Velis, he and others have been making requests from MassDOT for a decision on the matter, which was initially given a timeline of three weeks when it first occurred. “We made it abundantly clear our foremost priorities,” he said. The Westfield News reached out to a representative from MassDOT but comments on the possible waiver were not made at the time of this story’s publishing. The department was requested in a letter to no longer utilize the bridge with vehicles that exceeded the posted weight restrictions on Aug. 3. Since then, the department had come up with ways for responding to the other side of the bridge in order to avoid it, but at times had faced delays in responses. The posted weight limits for the bridge are 12 tons for 2-axle vehicles, 16 tons for 3-axle vehicles and 29 tons for 5-axle vehicles. These limits excluded a majority of the department’s vehicles, with the exception of ambulances and rescue vehicles. According to Regan, the waiver is expected to allow the department’s Engines 2 through 5 to utilize the bridge.
By GREG FITZPATRICK Correspondent SOUTHWICK – Since the Veterans War Memorial was approved by the school committee on Oct. 4 to be located in the foyer of the Southwick Regional High School, individuals close to this project have been working on the display itself. A memorial dedicated to veterans who graduated from Southwick, Tolland, or Granville High School, and were killed in combat or in a hostile attack while serving their country, will have a plaques mounted on the wall as part of the memorial. The plaques will include an image of the veterans, their years of life, the year they graduated high school, and any service information. There will be three veterans that will be a part of the Veterans Memorial at this time and they are as follows: • William Alamed Jr. (killed while fighting the Vietnam War) • Steven Wentworth (killed in the Beirut bombings in 1983) • Travis Fuller (killed in Iraq War in 2005) Troy Henke, who is a member of Southwick VFW Post 872, has been spearheading this project and is now working on buying three plaques. The three plaques, and other costs for wall lettering and installation, totals $5,000 and Henke is looking to get as See Memorial Fpoyer, Page 8
Troy Henke is seen with Southwick Regional High Principal Joseph Turmel at a past school committee meeting as they discussed the plans for the Veterans Memorial Foyer. (WNG File Photo)