Holyoke Planning Board to consider plans for McDonald's restaurant, office building

By Ken Ross

10/15/2008- The Republican

HOLYOKE - A Planning Board public hearing on a proposal to tear down an existing McDonald's restaurant and replace it with a new one was postponed Tuesday.

But the board did hold a hearing about another proposed project: a 13,214- square-foot office building slated to built at 701 Kelly Way.

The McDonald's restaurant public hearing was continued at the request of the developer. The hearing will be held at 6 p.m. on Nov. 12.

The board also continued the public hearing on the proposed office building project. That hearing will resume on Oct. 28 at 5:30 p.m.

The proposed office building would be used by Horizon Solutions, a distributor of electrical and industrial equipment, according to Robert Bacon of The O'Leary Group, the Southampton-based company overseeing the proposed construction project.

If the project is approved, construction on the one-story office building may begin this fall and be completed in the spring, Bacon said. The building would be used mainly by corporate employees and for training purposes.

In addition, the facility would have 49 parking spaces instead of the required 43 spaces, according to the site plan as described at Tuesday's meeting by Robert Levesque of Levesque Associates, the Westfield-based planning company working on the office project.

In contrast, the McDonald's restaurant project at 2194 Northampton St. includes a request to reduce the number of required parking spaces. City regulations require the restaurant to have 98 parking spaces. The proposed plan calls for 56 parking spaces.

McDonald's wants to "demolish the existing building and construct a 3,886 square foot modern, prototypical 74-seat restaurant building in its place," according to the public notice for the meeting.

The existing McDonald's restaurant was built in 1968, according to city property records. The property is owned by R.H.C. Associates. The property is valued at $1.2 million, according to city property records.