EAST LONGMEADOW — The East Longmeadow Planning Board heard a request on Dec. 17 to change the town’s bylaws to allow assisted living facilities in the Industrial Garden Park zone, a use already permitted in residential zones.
Bill Laplante is the owner of 199 Denslow Rd., an undeveloped parcel on the Longmeadow border. He said he would like to build an assisted living and memory care facility on the two-acre site. There are already several assisted living facilities in East Longmeadow, including East Village Place, East Longmeadow Memory Care Assisted Living and CareOne at Redstone. However, Laplante submitted documentation to support his position that more need exists in the community, in which 18.8% of the population is age 65 or older.
Laplante requested that assisted living facilities be allowed to operate in the Industrial Garden Park zone under a special permit, a document that allows the Planning Board to lay out reasonable conditions under which certain land uses are allowed in a given zone. A special permit requires a public hearing and approval by four of the Planning Board’s five members.
Planning Board member Peter Punderson said that if he were to need an assisted living facility in the future, he would like to remain in East Longmeadow, near family. Planning Board member William Fonseca agreed. He also said a facility on the site would be centrally located between East Longmeadow and Longmeadow, a town which also has an aging population.
The process for changing a zoning bylaw in East Longmeadow involves an application reviewed by the Planning Board, a meeting with the Town Council, which will decide whether to refer the zoning change back to the Planning Board and public hearings so that residents and abutters can share concerns, questions or comments on the matter.
Rather than presenting the matter to the Town Council as the petitioners, the board decided to draft a letter recommending the zoning change, while allowing Laplante to act as the party requesting the change.
On a separate bylaw matter, Planning and Community Development Director Rob Watchilla said the state had released its draft guidelines for accessory dwelling units. Under the Affordable Homes Act, passed this summer, accessory dwelling units such as in-law apartments and tiny homes, are allowed “as by right” throughout the commonwealth, effective Feb. 2, 2025.
The law allows for municipalities to pass reasonable restrictions in the form of a bylaw. While the Planning Board met on Dec. 3 to review its proposed bylaw, this was the board’s first look at the state’s proposed restrictions.
Watchilla said the rules mainly prohibited accessory dwelling units from exceeding the regulations of the main dwelling. For example, the setback for an accessory dwelling unit cannot be less than the setback for the main residence on that property. Watchilla said some of the language was vague and he would request clarification.
Punderson, who was not present at the Dec. 3 Planning Board meeting, called the law “egregious.” Watchilla commented that it was “earth-shattering,” particularly the provision that prevents municipalities from requiring the property owner to live in either the main building or the accessory unit, a condition he said was widely imposed in towns that already allow accessory dwelling units.
The Planning Board will meet again on Jan. 7, at 6 p.m., to continue its discussion on the accessory dwelling unit bylaw.
