Planning Board Advances North Hatfield Road Rezoning to Town Meeting, 3-2

HATFIELD -- April 14, 2021, Hatfield Planning Board sends North Hatfield Road rezoning to town meeting without endorsement, voting 3-2. The board declined to recommend for or against changing a roughly nine-acre parcel at Map 211-32 from its current split rural residential and light industrial zoning to all light industrial, instead taking a neutral position and leaving the decision to town voters. Chair Stephanie Slysz cited concerns about spot zoning, while alternate chair Bob Wagner warned the town would look to the board for guidance. A parallel enforcement matter complicated the hearing: town enforcement officer Kyle Scott confirmed that an unpermitted trucking operation had been running at the adjacent 123 North Hatfield Road property, land zoned only for landscaping under a special permit, and said town counsel may need to get involved. Kim Baker of 96 North Hatfield Road testified in opposition, saying she feared the change would bring "a big Morton building" to what remains a residential-feeling street already burdened by stray tractor-trailer traffic from a nearby freight facility.