HADLEY — Enhancing the commercial tax base on Route 9 and protecting farmland throughout Hadley are goals shared by both candidates running for a one-year term on the Planning Board at town election Tuesday.

While 50-year incumbent Joseph Zgrodnik is unopposed for a five-year term on the board, Kishore Parmar of Chmura Road and Anthony S. Fyden of Cold Spring Lane are the candidates for the position held by Matthew Waldrip, who was appointed to the board last year, but opted not to run for the final year of the term.

Polls will be open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Hadley Senior Center.

Fyden, 60, a journalist, copywriter and marketer who currently leads a creative team for publishing at the Channing Bete Co., said he will be an independent voice not beholden to any interests except the townspeople.

During a recent candidates forum, Fyden said his priorities are protecting neighborhoods, preserving farmland and defending local decision-making, while supporting business development on Route 9.

Growing up in town and graduating from Hopkins Academy, Fyden said he would stand up and push back on the state legislation that streamlined the permitting for large-scale renewable energy projects, including battery storage.

“We’re being pressured by outside forces from the state, even from national political organizations,” Fyden said.

He also said dual-use solar can be a misnomer. “We’re losing farmland,” Fyden said, adding that he will stand in opposition to projects that don’t work for the town, but not be reflexively against those developments.

“I think we should drive our decision-making,” Fyden said. “We should be able to decide what our town looks like, now and into the future.”

He also worries about killing the “golden goose” of Route 9, suggesting that adding apartments and housing to the commercial district be done with caution.

“I think we really do need to be careful; we have something special and we do need to protect that,” Fyden said.

Parmar, 43, whose family operates three hotels in town as the Pioneer Valley Hotel Group, is citing significant experience with town zoning and familiarity with officials and board members, due to the hospitality business and his participation on other boards, such as the Chapter 40R Smart Growth Committee.

Through being a longtime member of the business committee, he has gained hands-on experience with planning, which he said will lead to thoughtful, community-driven development. “Small-town planning requires both flexibility and a broad perspective,” Parmar said.

Parmar, who came to town with his family in 1988 and is a Hopkins Academy graduate, started his career working at the-then Spruce Hill Motel on Route 9, now the site of the TownePlace Suites by Marriott, which opened in late March.

Over the years in his professional life, he has met with firefighters, police officers, public works employees, and building, conservation, finance and building officials.

“I’m familiar with all those departments and have a good relationship with them,” he said.

Flexibility and a broad perspective will mean protecting farmland while building up the tax base and being creative in recognizing new development opportunities and “encouraging thoughtful, well-managed growth that reflects the needs of Hadley.”

Such is the case in pitching a 55-and-over apartment style project for the Hadley Village Barn Shops site and recognizing the changing dynamics of the commercial corridor, especially sites closer to the Coolidge Bridge.

“I believe with my experience, both as a resident and a business owner who has developed in Hadley, makes me uniquely qualified to serve,” Parmar said.

One area of disagreement between the candidates is whether Parmar would have a conflict of interest and an impartiality as a business owner, in part because Parmar and his family often have business in front of the board, such as the possible 55-and-over project. Parmar said he would recuse himself in those circumstances, and would leave four remaining members of the board to make the decision.

But he said the conflict is overblown, that residents know him and his family and have put trust in his approach. None of the hotels currently being operated, Hampton Inn, TownePlace and Homewood Suites, he said, have generated any pushback from neighbors.

“There hasn’t been a conflict,” Parmar said. “All of our businesses have benefited Hadley,” he said, pointing to the rooms taxes annually generating $600,000 in revenue for the town.

“That’s my conflict right there,” Parmar said.

Fyden acknowledged that he has less familiarity with planning and zoning matters than Parmar. “Experience is an advantage, but it can be a double-edged sword when you’re talking about conflicts,” Fyden said.

But he said the future senior housing development project is such a conflict that this outweighs whatever experience Parmar has.

“We have to know it’s an independent voice that people are speaking for Hadley,” Fyden said. “It’s a very difficult decision when you’re representing a company and trying to represent the town.”

A fair and transparent process will be called into question, and Hadley might risk losing business to other communities, he said.

“It could have a chilling effect on other projects as well, as developers see a potential business competitor on the Planning Board and take their investment elsewhere,” Fyden said.

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