Hadley planners consider designating denser housing districts

By SCOTT MERZBACH

Staff Writer

Published: 04-06-2023 3:32 PM

HADLEY — In the wake of the recent rejection by the Zoning Board of Appeals for a Route 9 hotel’s conversion into affordable apartments, municipal planners are exploring the possibility of adjusting zoning to allow denser housing in certain areas of town.

At Tuesday’s Planning Board meeting, members discussed whether it would be appropriate to pursue an overlay district under the state’s Chapter 40R smart growth zoning and housing production act. This would allow developers, by right, to propose affordable housing projects that meet certain design guidelines favored by the town.

Planning Board Clerk William Dwyer said such a 40R district might generate housing options on already developed land, noting that with brick-and-mortar retailers struggling, this could provide a redevelopment option.

“Adaptive reuse of existing structures, or existing sites, is going to be the wave of the future, I believe,” Dwyer said.

Already at Hampshire Mall, mall owner Pyramid Companies suggested that housing could be in its future, with similar properties elsewhere becoming mixed-use when an anchor store and other shops are lost.

Both the industrial district from Mill Valley Road to South Maple Street and a portion of the business district from South Maple to the Howard Johnson hotel on Route 9 could be areas for such an overlay district, Dwyer said.

“We have room to work with,” Dwyer said. “Even if some of it is aspirational, it creates an option for mall properties we might want to encourage.”

The discussion comes after the Zoning Board of Appeals turned down Valley Community Development’s proposal to turn the EconoLodge at 329 Russell St. into a 51-unit affordable housing project under the state’s Chapter 40B law, which allows developers to skirt town zoning, including Hadley’s general restriction of one dwelling unit per lot.

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Chapter 40R is a state law that seeks to substantially increase the supply of housing and decrease its cost, by increasing the amount of land zoned for dense housing.

Ken Comia, deputy director for Land Use and Environment for the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, said such an overlay district could align with values in Hadley’s master plan to allow density in certain areas and to adapt and reuse certain vacant buildings.

Karen Martin, housing planner for Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, explained that the town would have to write this zoning to meet certain density and affordability criteria.

“But the town is choosing what the site district location is,” Martin said.

Town Meeting then, by simple majority vote, could approve an overlay district, with the state Department of Housing and Community Development ensuring it meets its requirements under the Chapter 40B law and giving its stamp of approval.

A zoning incentive payment is then received and per-unit payments are made for each unit that is approved and constructed.

Martin said Northampton has two such districts that have been used, including the Village Hill project.

While a 40R district likely won’t have any immediate impact on the EconoLodge project, representatives from Valley CDC were present to offer input.

Jessica Allan, real estate development manager for Valley CDC, said she was at PVPC when put it together a model 40R bylaw that was used in both Easthampton and Holyoke.

Once each community come up with a district and affected parcels, the state did its review. Allan said the carrot-and-stick approach is appreciated by developers who get a clear permitting path for projects that are by right, rather than discretionary.

“It gives comfort to the developer knowing that they have a permitting path that is straightforward, it gives comfort to the municipality that they can have a project that can look like what they want it to look like,” Allan said.

The more challenging part, Allan said, may be identifying one or more parcels and then having PVPC do the needed analysis. There could, in fact, be multiple districts, with different design standards depending on the underlying district’s zoning.

When she was city planner in Easthampton, Allan said a 40R district was put in place, with closed Roman Catholic churches becoming their own floater parcels.

Planning Board member Joseph Zgrodnik said his worry is that the town needs to protect its farmland and maintain a community that feeds the region.

“We don’t want to see our town paved over with housing and apartments,” Zgrodnik said.

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