HADLEY — A lawsuit by the American Legion Post 271 that aimed to prevent a new senior center from being built on town-owned land it has long used for overflow parking has been resolved, according to a town official.
Select Board Chairwoman Joyce Chunglo announced at a board meeting last week that the town and Legion representatives had come to an agreement that will allow the municipal project to move forward.
The specifics of the agreement are not yet being made public.
Michael Pill, a lawyer with Green, Miles, Lipton LP of Northampton who filed the lawsuit in Land Court, said attorney-client privilege prevents him from discussing the status of the case.
Town Administrator David Nixon said he could not comment on the lawsuit, though he observed that a fundraising thermometer sign in front of the Legion’s Route 9 building is no longer displayed.
Last week, the Planning Board began its hearing on the 12,050-square-foot project, where Thomas Reidy, an attorney with Bacon Wilson, PC, who is representing the Senior Center Building Committee, also noted the lawsuit is going away.
“So we don’t anticipate that that pending litigation will have any negative impact on this project going forward,” Reidy said.
Even with the possible resolution, though, the amount of parking for the $7.1 million senior center, and a new library that would be built where the Hooker School building is located, may complicate approval of the site plans.
At the beginning of the hearing, Chairman James Maksimoski said he was not interested in the status of the lawsuit. He didn’t feel like he was being disrespectful by telling Chunglo she couldn’t talk about the suit at the hearing, noting that the discussion should focus on town zoning.
Chunglo was in attendance and argued otherwise. “It is disrespectful, but I’ll take it in stride,” Chunglo said.
During the initial hearing, which will be continued until July 17 at 7:15 p.m., Maksimoski said 104 spaces will not be adequate for the two buildings because it doesn’t meet town bylaws.
“Two-for-one parking is a hard and fast rule, and that must be met,” said Maksimoski, referring to zoning that calls for the parking area to be double the size of the buildings.
Planners also said they would like the current Goodwin Library building, which is expected to remain standing after a new library is built, to have sufficient parking.
Planning Board member John Mieczkowski said that repurposed building needs to be taken into account as part of the plans.
Reidy disputed this, noting that a strict mathematical application in calculating parking is not appropriate.
Clerk William Dwyer said another issue is whether the new buildings fits the town’s master plan that guides development.
Four of the five planners must vote in favor of the plans for the project to be approved, Dwyer said.
A day after the hearing, Select Board members said they are considering drafting a statement to show their support for moving the project forward.
Board member Molly Keegan said there needs to be a game plan, which could include bringing a bylaw to fall Town Meeting that would exempt municipal projects from the strict interpretation of the parking bylaws.
While board member John Waskiewicz said he preferred to give priority to the senior center project and a North Hadley fire substation over a new library, he said voters have repeatedly spoken through Town Meeting and ballot votes that all three projects are important.
Jane Nevinsmith, chairwoman of the Senior Center Building Committee, said the committee brought a clean peer design review from Berkshire Design Group that should have allowed the Planning Board to make a quick decision and not put off a vote for another month, which is evidence that it may be trying to delay the project.
Council on Aging Chairman David Storey told the Select Board he feels like planners are trying to stand in the way.
“We feel very discouraged because they clearly have an agenda to keep the project from going through,” Storey said.
Chunglo also expressed concern about how the Planning Board is approaching the hearing. “They’re doing their process, and they’re not being nice about it,” Chunglo said.