Planning Board chairman Peter McEwan made the case that the property at 98 Southwick Rd. cannot be converted into a dog daycare, to the shock of the applicant.
WESTFIELD - The public hearing for a plan to turn Zuber's Ice Cream & Deli into a second Agawam DogWorks location has been delayed for more than a month, after the Planning Board threw up a major roadblock on Tuesday night.
Parsing the definition of the term "commercial kennel," Planning Board chairman Peter McEwan made the case that the property at 98 Southwick Rd. cannot be converted into a dog daycare, to the shock of the applicant.
The public hearing will continue Tuesday, Nov. 21, at 7 p.m. in City Council Chambers, Westfield City Hall, 59 Court St.
Agawam DogWorks, located at 860 Suffield St. (Route 75) in Agawam, offers dog daycare, grooming and training services.
The company filed a special permit application last month, seeking permission to construct a 36-foot by 50-foot one-story building on the Zuber's property, and a 10-foot by 40-foot addition to the northwest corner of the existing building, remove sheds and make improvements to the five-acre site.
The facility would be surrounded by an 8-foot chain link fence. The existing driveway, parking lot and utility services would remain.
The plan received initial approval from the city's zoning enforcement officer, as long as no dogs were kept outdoors. But McEwan said that was not the right interpretation of the zoning ordinance.
"Our thinking was that large-scale commercial kennels belonged in the country," said McEwan, referring to zoning ordinance amendments made in 2006 that defined certain terms related to animals.
Those amendments, according to McEwan, make a distinction between "commercial kennels" and "pet kennels." Any establishment that boards dogs or provides dog daycare to more than one animal is considered a commercial kennel, he said, and those businesses are not allowed everywhere.
"Those are only allowed in two districts, and those are Industrial A and Rural Residential," said McEwan.
The Zuber's property is zoned Business A.
A "pet kennel," on the other hand, is any collection of four or more pets kept for any purpose. Pet kennels, McEwan said, are allowed in Business A.
Robert Levesque of the Westfield engineering firm R Levesque Associates, which prepared the Agawam DogWorks application, said the situation was "frustrating."
"We have contradicting information," said Levesque, pointing to the zoning determination and conversations with city officials, including Principal Planner Jay Vinskey. "These folks spent a lot of money on a determination by the zoning enforcement officer. It's our understanding that that's the last call."
"That's a terrible mistake," replied McEwan. "It's difficult to understand unless you were there (in 2006). That's what it comes down to."
Levesque requested a continuance of the public hearing to give the applicant time "to determine if this interpretation of yours is correct."
He said he was caught off-guard, especially since McEwan said he was aware of this concern several days ago, and chose not to warn the applicant that there was a snag.
"If you had this knowledge ahead of time, did you think of letting anybody know about it?" asked Levesque.
"No, I didn't. I didn't even look at this until, like, Friday," said McEwan. "I have great respect for you, but I'm not supposed to talk to applicants or the public prior to the hearing."
The property is currently owned by Zuber Realty and appraised at $338,900, according to city records.