On the agenda: Belchertown minutes — data center (Sep 8)

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Belchertown Planning Board
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Minutes — Tuesday — September 8, 2026
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This meeting was held in-person at town hall and virtually at\%
https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/173538941
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Members

Present:

D. Beaudette,

Mike Hofler, Elizabeth

Pols, Bjorn Markeson,

Ser

——

Len Bilodeau

Members Remote:
Members

Absent: Mark Plante - Alternate

Staff Present: Doug Albertson, Town Planner & Jacqueline Fredenburgh, Technical Assistant
Audience Present:
Audience

Mark and Marion Bronner, Stephen and Margaret Lanphear, Erica True

Remote: AO, ‘wesgfrj’

7:00 P.M. D. Beaudette

opened

the meeting

and read the agenda

auditorium this evening.

into the record.

We are in the

Continued ANR — Hamilton Street & Magnolia Lane, Map 238, Lot 288 & Map 239, Lot 34 —
Applicants Mark & Marion Bronner, Wayne and Virginia Bronner, Raymond Bronner, Lynn
Gregoire & Debra Tolzdorf, plan dated May 6, 2026, to create (1) lot, for lot identification plan
purposes shown as Lot 1 and Remaining land.
This is the third time reviewing this ANR. At the last meeting, there was continued confusion regarding
ownership and the surveyor, Randy Izer agreed to an extension.
Earlier this week, the owners delivered probate documents
Mark and Marion Bronner, are here tonight in person.

to the Planning

Office. Two of the owners,

D. Beaudette explained the reasons why the ANR has been delayed. The heirs were in question, and

the surveyor

did not know the status

of whether the estate

had been through probate

or not.

D. Beaudette mentioned that he paid a visit to the probate records office in person. He reviewed the
records that are open to the public. The representatives
are Wayne Bronner and Lynn Gregoire. The
applicants that we are concerned about are Wayne and Lynn. We do have application forms that do

have signatures on them.
We didn’t have any indication that the estate had been probated.

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The Bronner’s said they watched the last two meetings, and they came right up to the town hall with the
paperwork. They said they want to be good neighbors. Their family has been in town since the 1940s.

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The Planning Board wants the work to be done accurately.

The only question that D. Beaudette has now is that the plan is titled as Raymond
think it's the Estate of Raymond Bronner. It is the estate of Marie C. Bronner.

Bronner. He doesn't

D. Beaudette would like to make a manual change to the plan in order to correct this and to make the
ownership clear.
The Board is going to mark the mylar manually. Randy Izer is going to come and get that mylar and he

will acknowledge this change at that time and accept it at that time.

MOTION: D. Beaudette

to approve the ANR with the modified mylar, in accordance

with the

subdivision regulations §270-12.
SECOND: B. Markeson

discussion:

VOTE: 5-0-0

7:22 p.m. Public Hearing for Proposed Zoning Bylaw Change to Schedule
D. Beaudette read the Public Hearing notice into the record.

of Uses.

D. Beaudette Opened the Public Hearing.
There are three industrial zones in town: Harris Way, off Springfield Road, and in the far south end of
town off Depot Street. Harris Way is built out, and the Springfield Road site is mostly wet or built out.
The southern zone off Depot Street is small and filled by former mill buildings. Those buildings have
some vacancies and there are businesses that would be appropriate in that setting that are prevented
by the current zoning. This proposal is just a quick amendment to assist a few businesses to be able to
use the vacant spots they have identified. The full zoning revision we are beginning
comprehensively
to spur economic and community activity in this neighborhood.

will address

this

D. Albertson went through the Schedule of Uses.

There is a second change to number 39 in the Schedule of Uses. This would be commercial use
parking and this is considering if Palmer gets a commuter rail stop. The parking would be by Planning

Approval. We have a limited footprint to work with and limited number of open spaces.
allowed on a first come first serve basis.

These

would be

D. Beaudette

opened the Public Hearing to the Public for comment. Seeing none; hearing none

D. Beaudette

opened the Public Hearing to the GoTo for comment.

D. Beaudette closed the public portion of the Public Hearing.
The Board went into deliberations.
MOTION: D. Beaudette

to close the Public

SECOND: L. Bilodeau
VOTE: 5-0-0

discussion:

Hearing.

Seeing none; hearing none

MOTION: M. Hofler to recommend this to special town meeting as written, with the submitted
changes to the schedule of uses for the industrial zone with the inclusion addition of
commercial parking areas and garages requiring a Special Permit/ PA. Commercial use number

39.

SECOND:
VOTE:

E. Pols

discussion: none

5-0-0

ANR - Cottage Street, Map 244, Lot 36.011 & Map 243, Lot 52 — Applicants Stephen S. &
Margaret L. Lanphear, plan dated August 24, 2026, to shift the boundary between two lots, for lot
identification plan purposes shown as Parcel A and Remaining Land.
Margaret and Stephen Lanphear are present tonight. Elizabeth Pols explained the ANR and the Board
discussed it.
The application Form A is being modified by the Planning Board to read as the Stephen S. Lanphear
Trust. Existing lot was changed to two.
MOTION: E. Pols to endorse the ANR for Margaret and Stephen
the plan dated August 24, 2026.
SECOND:

L. Bilodeau

Lanphear Trust, as shown on

discussion: none

VOTE: 5-0-0

Discussion — Woodland Lane
We had asked the owner, Andrey Korchevsky to come in tonight, but he wasn’t available.
There was some flooding a few weeks ago at this subdivision and we are returning to it tonight for
further discussion.
D. Beaudette read the letter from DPW regarding the status of the subdivision punch list. Linda has
asked that the split rail fence project be accelerated

before winter.

D. Albertson will follow up and ask Andrey Korchevsky
M. Hofler wants a written letter from the engineer

and will work correctly.

to attend a meeting soon.

that the basins will be back to their original design

D. Beaudette drove around in the subdivision and he couldn't see anything from the flood. He spoke
with a homeowner

the basements.

there however,

and was told that some of the houses

There were people on Bardwell Street that had problems
houses in there that are for sale now.

had a couple of feet of water in

with the flooding as well. There are two spec

We will revisit this within the next few weeks.

Discussion

— QUAD Board

meeting

We talked about this last meeting. We need two volunteers for the new committee/working
group.
B. Markson volunteered already and we were waiting for L. Bilodeau to be present to have a chance

volunteer if he wanted to. He's already doing the land use.

to

Volunteers are B. Markeson and L. Bilodeau.

Additions with Consent of the Members: will be reflected in the members report below.

Member Reports:
D. Beaudette:

Dan stopped

in the Planning

Office to talk to Doug about the community

and economic

planner, Eric Weiss. Eric is at the town hall on Tuesdays and Thursdays and he is looking for ideas.

Stop in and see him and introduce
things.

yourselves.

He would like to come up with a new way of looking at

There was a follow-up email from Abby Lamhorn in the Town Manager's office about the quad meeting
and there’s a survey to add your additional thoughts.
M. Hofler: Wanted to discuss the data center information that was sent from the governor's office. He
thinks we need to accelerate our review of the pros and cons of data centers in terms of their footprint,
their economics, taxes versus the thermal footprint they create.
He too was speaking with the economic development manager, and Mike suggested that the working
group needs to put out specific instructions to the EDIC if we're going to get business in here. And then
the hope is Eric will say to the Planning Board, here’s what you need to focus on.

He's hoping that the working group will do more than put something up on the shelves without specifics.
E. Pols: none
B. Markeson: none
L Bilodeau: none

M. Plante: n/a

Minutes of August 25, 2026
MOTION: D. Beaudette
SECOND:

- endorsed

to approve the minutes as written of August 25, 2026.

B. Markeson

discussion: none

VOTE: 5-0-0

There are bills: Turley Publications

$171.50 - Endorsed.

Planning Board Update September

8, 2026

Economic Development
Eric Weiss is already very active

— he

schmoozed

at the UMass community

breakfast,

and is working

the other connections, such as the chambers of commerce, and is meeting business owners. He's
already pretty well known in the area and likes to talk to people. He asked

if he would be expected

attend planning board meetings. He is welcome and he is asking if they would like a report. He will
come to the next meeting and we will put him on the agenda.

to

Lake Wallace
The Second Lake Wallace Fest is October 3. This is 8-2. The road race and the roll and stroll on the
trail. It was successful last year, so it might be bigger and better this year.

Town Meeting
Scheduled

for November

9, and the due date for warrant articles is September

24.

Energy
The clean energy siting forum will be in town hall on Wednesday
Other towns are invited, so it could be crowded.

September

23

, 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM.

Water
The Massachusetts
inter-basin transfer

Water Resources Commission is to hold a public hearing on their proposal of an
of 20,000,000 gallons a day of water from Quabbin to Wachusett Reservoir. Copies

of the application are available for review at the Clapp Memorial Library. The hearing is to be
September 30 at 11:00 AM in the town hall auditorium. It's also a hybrid, so if you can't fit into the
auditorium, it has a link: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/wseC_yaMROm5FZOYpatoSw

Fort River Watershed
UMass, the Nature Conservancy, and MassWildlife decision-making project focused on prioritizing
restoration actions for climate resilience and aquatic connectivity in the Fort River watershed. This is
the entire north-west section of town, including Scarborough Brook and Hop Brook. It also includes the
Lawrence Swamp aquifer, which includes the Daigle well for Belchertown water and Amherst wells that
also serve some Belchertown customers.
Doug spoke with the project leader who is setting up a 1 ¥:
day workshop in late October that Julie in conservation and | might participate in.

Executive Order for Massachusetts
This was sent today from the governor's office, and is about data centers.

The Fort River Water Shed
There's

a post-doctoral

student

at UMass and she has spoken with Doug and Julie. This is about planet

resiliency and this is a day and a half workshop at the end of the month. Doug has been invited to this.
The date just came out today.

State ADU Regs
If you want to learn more about the state’s regulations
them, you can log into the meeting.

about the ADU laws on how you can permit

Invitation to Mass Planners
Executive office of livable communities there is a virtual meeting.
Chapter 40 reference package is an informational packet to see if anyone wanted to read up on it. It
has been forwarded to all PB members.

MOTION: D. Beaudette
SECOND:
VOTE:

M. Hofler

5-0-0

to adjourn the meeting.
discussion: none

Meeting adjourned

at:

8:20 P.M.
Daniel Beaudette
Micpael Hofler

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Elizabeth Bo

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form Markeson

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Lebrard Bilodeau

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