HADLEY — A Route 9 dental office’s potential move to a new building that would be constructed less than a quarter-mile away on the state highway could be complicated by the continued road widening project and an historic farmhouse on the property.

While the 101 East St. site is already owned by Cyrus Safizadeh and Noelle Nubani, who run Hampshire Meadow Pediatric Dentistry at 207 Russell St., the property’s limited setbacks and 1830 home are making redevelopment a challenge.

At Tuesday’s Planning Board meeting, Larry Tuttle, who runs Architectural Insights Inc. in Palmer, told planners that he is beginning to put together the documents for a site plan review for the project, even though the property only has a setback of 31 or 32 feet from Route 9, less than the mandated 50-foot setback. The widening of the state highway, he said, has brought the edge of the road much closer.

Planning Board Clerk William Dwyer said Safizadeh and Nubani would have to go to the Zoning Board of Appeals for a variance, possibly using the argument that the land takings by the state have created a hardship. “You have to go to the ZBA for that,” Dwyer said.

Planning Board Chairman James Maksimoski said development of the site would make it less nonconforming than what exists now, where the western part of the farmhouse, which is in dilapidated condition, has no buffer from the road. “The existing structure is in Route 9. This would not be,” Maksimoski said.

Safizadeh said he bought the property in June, for $706,000, because the practice has outgrown space it opened in summer 2019. Since then, the practice has acted much like a community health center, and draws patients from across the region, including the Berkshires, due to limited availability of pediatric dentistry.

Tuttle said he would like to retain the original house, if possible, but the state’s new energy code would make it cost prohibitive to incorporate into a new building. The project might approximate some of the detailing on the home to appease the Historical Commission.

The development also may attempt to physically relocate the structure, Tuttle said. The existing barn is not salvageable, while the farmhouse’s west portion is in disrepair.

Dwyer said that planners prefer to not have parking in the 50-foot setback but it is not a requirement of the town bylaw.

Safizadeh previously spoke to the Historical Commission about his plans. While the town doesn’t have a demolition delay bylaw, Chairwoman Diana West informed him that preserving the farmhouse is critical. “Our goal would be to see the house saved,” West said.

Other business

In other business, the Planning Board announced that a hearing on a stand-alone battery storage proposed for a Breckenridge Road gravel pit will take place after a proposed bylaw to allow such systems, to be brought to Town Meeting next spring, is published. The current bylaw doesn’t allow stand-alone battery storage.

The revised bylaw would allow stand-alone battery storage wherever large-scale solar is allowed.

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