Holyoke’s Ordinance Committee to host public hearings about proposed zoning changes

HOLYOKE — With the city of Holyoke working on updating its Comprehensive Plan, the Planning Board and Ordinance Subcommittee will host public hearings on April 14 to discuss proposed changes to the city’s zoning ordinances.

“From my very first days in office, I made a clear commitment to the people of Holyoke that we would update our long-overdue Comprehensive Plan — what many have traditionally known as a master plan — to guide our city’s future with intention, clarity and community input,” Mayor Joshua Garcia said on his Facebook page. “For too long, Holyoke has operated without an updated roadmap for growth and development. That is now changing.”

Massachusetts, under MGL Ch 41 Sec. 81D, requires cities and towns to maintain a comprehensive plan for their long-term physical development. Holyoke last updated its Comprehensive Plan in 1999.

Holyoke Planning Board Chairperson Lauren Niles stated in the zoning change package that, for the last 24 months, an Executive Committee, along with the Planning Board, has been working with an outside consultant to create an updated Comprehensive Plan for the city of Holyoke, which they hope to have ready for adoption in the next few months.

As part of the process, the Planning Board has conducted a thorough review of the city’s zoning ordinances, including use tables and zoning maps, to ensure alignment with the goals of the Comprehensive Plan.

Over the next six to nine months, residents can expect a series of zoning updates to be presented to the City Council that reflect this alignment. The first package includes 47 proposed updates. The changes range from technical and grammatical improvements to more substantive updates that clarify definitions, align ordinance language with use tables and modernize how the city will approach permitting.

According to Niles, the Planning Board has also identified many special permits granted by the City Council that should either be allowed by right or become special permits of the Planning Board since they are more dimensional in nature and require a deep knowledge of the zoning ordinance.

The City Council will retain special permits, which are primarily a matter of neighborhood character. Niles said the Planning Board wants to lessen the workload on the City Council and make the process clearer to residents and developers as they approach Holyoke with new projects.

On Tuesday, April 14, at 6:30 p.m., the Planning Board and the City Council’s Ordinance Committee will open respective public hearings on a package of changes that include shifting the zone designation of addresses throughout the city and updating entries in the city’s zoning ordinances.

Readers can visit Holyoke.org to see a summary of the proposed changes, initial explanations and parcel maps showing the areas of the proposed changes.

For proposed orders 2 8, the goal is to move more parcels into compliance and reduce the number of overall zones for a clearer zoning map that is easier to understand, reduces spot zoning and reflects the future hopes for Holyoke development.

For orders 11-21, in addition to the stated changes, the city is looking to remove all zones from the use chart that were previously ordered to be removed in orders two through eight.

For orders 22-40, the city is updating the narrative section of the zoning ordinances to reflect the changes to the principal use chart in the previous orders. In some orders, there will be a submission update to reflect the new body that is responsible for the special permit.

Property owners within 300 feet of any of the parcels should have or will receive letters informing them of the proposed change(s), the date, time, location and Zoom credentials of the hearings, the addresses proposed to be changed, and contact information for where they can send their questions or concerns to be added into the public record for these hearings.

Residents may also attend the public hearings to hear further information from relevant city departments, ask questions, and provide concerns and feedback for the public record.

In lieu of attending in person or on Zoom, feedback or questions should be emailed to City Council Administrative Assistant Jeffery Anderson-Burgos at anderson-burgosj@holyoke.org and Planning Department Head Clerk Brianna Tejada at tejadab@holyoke.org.