Hatfield Planning Board Tells Landscaper Rezoning Would Require Town Meeting Vote

HATFIELD — June 3, 2020 — Hatfield Planning Board hears informal pitch to rezone 9.47-acre North Hatfield Road parcel for landscaping use. The June 3 Zoom meeting featured an informal presentation by a local landscaper and his engineering consultant, Jeff Squire of Berkshire Design Group, who displayed zoning and wetland maps showing that split rural residential and light industrial designations, combined with 100-foot wetland buffers, make it nearly impossible to site a new building on the lot without a zone change. Planning Board Chair Bob told the applicant the board would not pursue spot zoning and that any rezoning must go to annual town meeting — the earliest opportunity being May 2021. The chair separately confirmed that a cease-and-desist letter has been issued by zoning enforcement officer Kyle Scott to an unpermitted dumpster business on King Street, and that a marijuana cultivation setback bylaw change remains on the June 16 town meeting warrant after the chair lobbied town administration to keep it.