LOCAL CONTROL SCHOOL SUBCOMMITTEE April 23, 2024

Yadillete Rivera, School Committee member and chair of the Local Control Committee, is one of the officials shepherding control of the Holyoke Public Schools back to the city.

Where former education commissioner Jeffrey Riley could not see a way to return to Holyoke authority over its schools, curriculums, staffing and more, acting Commissioner Russell Johnston almost immediately after Riley’s departure launched the process to accomplish just that just two months ago.

“One of the things that we were doing is going through all of the things that we should be learning and being trained on in the process of going, transitioning to local control,” she said of the organizing meetings through the fall to prepare the district for the transition.

To that end, the School Committee has charged its various subcommittees, including Finance & Operations, to work out the details in collaboration with the acting commissioner, who was in attendance remotely.

Finance & Operations Subcommittee chair John G. Whelihan  said the work is going well with Receiver Anthony Soto to envision what local control looks like.

“I know he’s done a lot of work with the operational, growth and, improvements of school buildings,” he said. ” Mr. (William) Collamore has been a champion of that for for years. I thought personally, there’s been deferred maintenance and a lot of projects.”

DEVELOPMENT & GOVERNMENT RELATIONS April 22, 2024

The greater part of an hour was taken up by concerns that several residents expressed about a home-based sealcoating business.

Several residents spoke at the Public Comment at the top of the meeting against a petition for a special permit application for a home occupation at 42 Arnodale Ave.  for a driveway sealcoating business.

The business owner, Florin Muradian, heard concerns from neighbors, including:

“I’m concerned about the smell, of the seal coating business. I know that when you put down an application of whatever the chemical is, it creates a smell. I just want to point out, though, I have smell sensitivities for my health”

“And there’s also children, in the area that, I just don’t see this being a good mix. And with the definitions here of a home occupancy, I see several different areas where it’s steps outside of that… ne being commercial vehicles. and number two, doesn’t produce, an offensive noise, smoke, dust, odors, heat. I feel that, that those things are going to be, violated, right out of the gate just by storing the material in the driveway. So, I’m heavily opposed to this.”

“I’m all pro-business. I’m pro everybody’s economy. I think the only thing that really comes from this objection is to find out what can we do as a city to promote economic equality, justice all around for any kind of business.”

Said Muradin: “I’m the one petitioning for the seal coating. business.  The fire department came to my house on Friday, and they found no problems with it. It’s a small tank. It’s four by two and about 2 to 3ft. About two feet tall. It holds about 100 gallons of seal coating. It’s, closed. You have a big lead that closes, so there’s really not much smell from it because it’s all self-contained. There’s, there’s no flammable stuff because it’s all water based. So. And you use water to clean up any the equipment and stuff like that. And, I don’t know what there’s no hazards or smell or anything else like that.”

City Councilor and committee chair Kocayne Givner said, “it sounds pretty straightforward to me that this is a business that’s on a trailer and gets moved around, but there’s no spraying or, work that should be happening at the residence.”

City Councilor Michael Sullivan said that in the end, there is a violation of the ordinance that states that residents cannot store material or equipment in a residential area.

“Equipment: we have a trailer, we have a tank, and we have a pumping engine,” said Sullivan. “So that right there is in clear violation of the city ordinance. And in my mind, there’s not much else to talk about. If we wanted to resolve it, that’s that’s exterior exterior storage. If it was being stored in a storage bay, a storage unit on commercial or industrial property somewhere else, it’d be fine to resolve the whole problem.”

The committee voted to take up the petition again on its June 6 meeting. In the meantime, it will ask the Fire Department and Health Department to review the property and material to ensure that all ordinances are followed.

Documents for this meeting can be reviewed here.

The complete meeting can be viewed/heard here.

ORDINANCE COMMITTEE April 24, 2024

Matthew Manville, executive director of the Holyoke Housing Authority, appeared before the committee to ask for a rezoning of industrial parcels to housing parcels. The Housing Authority is developing housing around the Clemente Park at 662, 666, 674, 680, 702, and 710 South East Street to build rental and homeownership units.

“The first phase is complete and fully occupied,” said Manville. “We have 12 lucky folks living there. And so you’ll see the map here. the parcel that we’re hoping to have, change to downtown residential is highlighted in red.”

City Councilor Carmen Ocasio, who represents Ward  2, where the housing is being developed, assisted the Housing Authority in establishing engagement from the community.

“I’m so happy that I was part of this, project,” she said. “I’m so excited to even see this coming to life.”

Documents the councilors review for this meeting are available here.

Full committee meeting can be seen/heard here.