HADLEY — A Planning Board public hearing on plans for a Chase Bank branch to be constructed at the edge of the Hampshire Mall parking lot will resume next month.

The board last week agreed to continue the hearing for the 3,000-quare-foot building that would rise at 375 Russell St. to Sept. 19, at the request of the applicant. The property is located at the corner of Route 9 and South Maple Street and next to the Trader Joe’s store.

Planning Board Clerk William Dwyer said the reason for the delay is a mandated peer review of the project by another engineering company hasn’t been completed.

“They do not have a clear peer review letter yet,” Dwyer said.

The hearing on requests for a special permit, permission for a business use in the aquifer protection zone and use of the transfer of development rights bylaw began in July.

At the time, Josh Kline, a representative from Stonefield Engineering & Design, said the bank would be making a payment for the transfer of development rights, going into an account for protecting farmland in town, which is necessary because the bank building will exceed the maximum lot coverage under town zoning.

Chase Bank last month opened a new branch in downtown Northampton at the former site of Silverscape Designs, which was the subject of a protest outside the business due to the bank’s investments in the fossil fuel industry.

Staff Writer Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com. 

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