NORTHAMPTON — The Planning Board has reaffirmed most of its 2025 approval of a 54-unit apartment building at Phillips Place and Hawley Street, after members conducted a court-ordered review that found the project’s waivers were properly granted — with one exception: the building’s vinyl fencing.
The board’s review last Thursday stemmed from an appeal filed in Massachusetts Land Court by nine neighborhood residents, who argued the board had granted waivers for the project in a “cavalier” fashion. Land Court Chief Justice Gordon Piper sent the board’s original approval back for further review last month.
“We feel that the zoning regulations were applied in a way where the developer was given certain waivers for things without real explanation,” Harold Wolfe, one of the plaintiffs, previously said. “Rules should apply to everyone, or they’re not very effective rules.”
The project, proposed by O’Connell Development Group of Holyoke, would bring 54 apartment units to the corner across from the former St. John Cantius Church in Ward 3.
Reviewing the challenged elements one by one — including for its facade and five-story size — the board found that all but one were either compliant with zoning ordinances or had been legally granted waivers.
In one case, the board determined that a 2025 waiver allowing the building to forgo a pedestrian door every 50 feet had been unnecessary. A closer reading of the zoning code showed doors must be spaced no more than 50 feet apart — not that one is required every 50 feet.
“We gave them a waiver because they didn’t have a door every 50 feet. But with this new understanding, they would have been fine because the doors that they did have were less than 50 feet [apart],” said Planning Board Vice Chair Chris Tait, who was acting as chair. “We’ve kind of been applying [the ordinance] this way the whole time.”
The exception was the building’s vinyl fencing, which had been approved without a waiver. The board found that it does not meet zoning requirements that fences be built with substantial natural material.
“The board finds that a wood grain vinyl fence does not satisfy the requirements that the fence be constructed with substantial natural material,” Planning Board member Rich Baker said. “The board did not grant a waiver for this requirement.”
O’Connell Development Group President Sarah Stine said after the more than 90-minute review that she “appreciate[d] the board’s time.”
Attorney Francisco Palomo, one of the plaintiffs and their legal representative, called the board’s reinterpretation of the door spacing rule “amusing.”
“They weren’t supposed to reconsider — they were supposed to respond back to what it was on May 22,” Palomo said. “They had their interpretation of the section pertaining to pedestrian entrances; it was that one was required every 50 feet, and they granted a waiver from that requirement. Now they’ve magically come up with a different interpretation.”
