Hatfield Planning Board Approves Straits Road Lot, Flags Vineyard Permit Violations

HATFIELD — January 5, 2022 — Hatfield Planning Board approves a Straits Road lot division and flags permit issues at Black Birch Vineyard. At the January 5 meeting, Chair Stephanie Slysz and the board unanimously endorsed an Approval Not Required plan for a 1.137-acre, 49,000-square-foot parcel with 200 feet of frontage submitted by Paul Cernak. In a separate informal discussion, the board told Black Birch Vineyard operator Michelle that after-hours private events and evening concerts are "technically in violation" of the vineyard's 2017 special permit, which limits public operations to noon to 6 p.m., and urged her to file a formal amendment application in time for the February 2 meeting. The board also heard a preliminary pitch from Bernie Smirowski and Berkshire Design Group for a multi-tenant outdoor cannabis cultivation campus at 60 North Hatfield Road on a 38-acre parcel, with Slysz committing to seek a town attorney opinion on whether a special permit may be issued to a landowner who leases grow fields to separately licensed Cannabis Control Commission licensees.