HADLEY — Updated flood maps from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which place more areas of the town in the flood plain, could make some future developments more expensive and challenging, according to town planners.
Planning Board Chairman James Maksimoski said the revised FEMA maps need to be considered as Hadley officials explore how to enhance the tax base, an ongoing discussion prompted by the town’s first successful Proposition 2-1/2 tax-cap override last spring.
These maps, which greatly increase the areas identified for potential flooding, may make a segment of Route 9 land undesirable and more expensive to develop.
“From at least the town center to the Coolidge Bridge is considered flood plain,” Maksimoski said.
With more parcels falling into floodplains and requiring additional insurance to qualify for mortgages, this could also pose difficulties in meeting Gov. Maura Healey’s goal to build more housing.
Planning Board member Joseph Zgrodnik said the larger flood-prone areas in the FEMA maps also prompt questions about who has oversight locally. “I think the FEMA one has to be addressed,” Zgrodnik said.
There is other work to be done, Maksimoski said, noting that the master plan is due to be updated in the next two to three years.
The Planning Board, during its twice-monthly meetings, has completed five to six site plan approvals from July 2025 to June 2026, with senior housing developments approved for the Hadley Village Barn Shops site and on Middle Street, and discussion of a similar development between Rocky Hill Road and North Maple Street.
It reviewed eight ground-mounted solar projects, with the vast majority being agrivoltaics that provide both power and opportunity to continue to grow crops below them.
Maksimoski said planners are also looking into the discrepancy between the new state law governing accessory dwelling units and state building code, and whether there needs to be revisions to food truck regulations.
The board is working with the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission on a possible state Chapter 40R bylaw smart growth district, which could be ready for voters to act on at annual Town Meeting next spring. Such a district would allow mixed-use buildings, which currently are not allowed, with the idea of rejuvenating some places along Route 9, like the Hampshire Mall.
Select Board member Molly Keegan wondered if other zoning changes could yield a variety of housing and other developments.
“There have to be things we can do, even if it’s small pockets of development,” Keegan said.
There is a possibility that state law will reduce the size of building lots on town sewer, but Maksimoski said putting up a new home would still come at a significant cost.
“There’s a lot of things being proposed by the state, [but] how realistic is it to see something come out of it?” Maksimoski asked.
And while the state wants more affordable housing, Zgrodnik said that due to Hadley’s proximity to the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus, the town is affected by the student rental market, with some portion of the existing housing stock and new homes likely to become what he referred to as “student stuffers.”
Select Board member David J. Fill II asked if there are places to expand the commercial zone for more business development.
Maksimoski said his board is open to this conversation, observing that portions of Mill Valley Road, which runs behind the shopping malls, are currently industrial zoning.
“That would be a good topic to talk [about] as a joint board,” Maksimoski said.
Fill also suggested developers interested in projects, such as hotels, could pay for some infrastructure upgrades, and asked whether the town could require this.
Maksimoski said such improvements have happened with some developments, such as with housing subdivisions where water lines have been extended. But past upgrades have been initiated by developers, he said, and extending a sewer line more than 500 feet on public land would require a two-thirds vote at Town Meeting.
The bigger question is whether Hadley has the capacity and plant to process more sewage.
Still, Zgrodnik said placing sewer lines would ensure more development. “If you put in a sewer line, you’re going to see development, whether it’s going to be houses, condos or anything else,” Zgrodnik said.
Town Administrator Nate Malloy said zoning changes are an opportunity for development without changing the look and feel of the town, possibly with cluster housing in certain subdivisions. He said the town could look at multi-unit housing as part of the master plan and development over the next 50 to 60 years.
“To me, it’s really about maintaining Hadley fiscally through zoning,” Malloy said. “It’s not necessarily one type of zoning or another; it’s, ‘Are there places that work for redevelopment?'”
The discussion came on a night when the Select Board appointed Robbin Jones as building commissioner. Jones, of Springfield, will take over for David Waskiewicz, who has been handling the responsibilities on an interim basis since previous building commissioner Kyle Scott’s death in March.
Jones, who has building commissioner certification, is the lead code enforcement officer for Amherst and its rental inspection program, a job he has held since late 2024.
Jones told the board that he earned a mechanical engineering degree at UMass, but later got into building construction review, starting his career as a lead paint and asbestos inspector.
“I want to bring some of the knowledge and experience I’ve learned in Amherst and from Springfield to Hadley, to try to speed up some of the processes and to make things [run] a little more smoothly for permitting and conflict resolution for enforcement,” Jones said.
