Holyoke Ordinance Committee Opens Zoning Overhaul Hearings, Continues to May 7

HOLYOKE -- April 14, 2026, Holyoke's Ordinance Committee opened a contentious public hearing on a 41-order zoning overhaul Tuesday, drawing a packed chamber of residents furious over a mailed notice they called confusing and alarming. Chair Meg McGrath-Smith and committee member Mimi Panitch, a former Planning Board member, walked the public through proposed district definitions and the consolidation of R1A single-family parcels into R1 under the looser R1A dimensional standards, while residents challenged a parallel proposal to shift certain special permit authority from the elected City Council to the appointed Planning Board. Jim Bevan, reading a statement for former City Councillor Helen Norris, warned that "once you surrender power, it is mighty hard to get it back." The public notice in the Holyoke Sun alone cost $8,268, split between the City Council and the Office of Planning and Economic Development, with additional unknown mailing costs for roughly 2,600 recipients. The committee voted 5-0 to continue the zoning hearing to May 7 and separately voted to close a data center public hearing and direct the city solicitor to draft a full ban on data centers as an allowable use in any Holyoke zoning district.