HADLEY — Sarah Hastings moved from her tiny house near the start of the month, but the 190-square-foot home remained on the Hadley property until Friday morning, when it was scheduled to be removed.
Residents who attended Hadley Town Meeting on May 5 defeated a tiny house bylaw proposed by Hastings, a Mount Holyoke College alumna who has been living since last year in the structure on East Street. The article failed 215-102, with 14 abstentions.
Timothy Neyhart, building commissioner and zoning enforcement officer for the town, said he has received fewer than 10 complaints from residents who are upset the house is still in Hadley, but he said the Select Board has received more.
Select Board Chairwoman Molly A. Keegan said several people have contacted town officials expressing concern that Town Meeting took a vote with the expectation that the issue would be resolved by the next day. She said residents have pointed out the house is still on the property weeks after the vote.
“People aren’t happy about that,” she said, adding that Hadley is very proud of its democratic meeting process. “When Town Meeting speaks, people expect there will be adherence to whatever the outcome is.”
Neyhart said Hastings initially had backup sites where she could move the house, but because her story has raised so much controversy those options are no longer available.
“We had to give her a little bit of time to figure out what she could do with it,” he said.
He said that if the house is not moved by Friday, as with any other violation of ordinances, she could face fines of up to $300 a day.
But, he said, she confirmed with him Thursday morning that it will be moved Friday.
In an email to the Gazette, Hastings said she no longer lived in the house in Hadley and that she plans to move it.
“Housing in Hadley, because everyone wants to live here, has become expensive,” Neyhart said. “This could have been an alternative.”
Neyhart added that, in his opinion, the situation was unfortunate.
“It’s difficult to get things passed by petition, and would have been better if a committee had been formed through the Select Board,” he said. “She had all the rights like everyone else to go forward with a petition for the modification of zoning, and I fully support that with anybody.”
Neyhart also said that Hastings had previously requested for a change of use to the tiny house as a shed because she is no longer living there, but the issue had become “too contentious at this point for that to happen.”
Ron Adams, the Hadley property owner who had rented the site to Hastings, expressed support for her vision in a column published in Wednesday’s Gazette,, calling the house a “brave endeavor.”
“Sarah’s plan of living within her means is fundamentally sound,” he wrote. “We are proud of what Sarah has built for herself and no less proud of her for losing the vote. She gave it her best.”
Sarah Crosby can be reached at scrosby@gazettenet.com.