LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — Should a day-care center operate in a residential neighborhood?

 

That is a question facing officials in Lanesborough as a day-care center opened in a Sunrise Street home and the neighbors are worried about the effect it will have on the neighborhood. Those opposing the child care operation say it is operating as a business and needs to be treated as such — and therefore isn't allowed by zoning laws.

 

But the building inspector has ruled that it is not a business but rather is an "accessory use" and a home occupation.

 

The town allows home occupations and zoning says nothing more than a sign can be evident of the business. The inspector ruled that the external signs were minimal. So the question is, do additional children and a swingset count as external signs of a business or are they typical for any family with children?

 

"How is a playground evidence of a business?" Town Manager Paul Sieloff asked Monday night when the issue came before the Board of Selectmen and led to a lengthy and heated discussion. "It would only be a business if the only use was a day care."

 

Sieloff says the ruling has been made that the day care fits zoning and the only way to change that would be through an appeal process with the Zoning Board of Appeals. Sieloff said that process was determined by legal counsel, who reviewed the legality of the situation.

 

Jill Ryder live across the street and she doesn't see it that way. She says the couple running it are making money from it and therefore should be taxed like a business, have a local license, and be in an appropriate place. Her street is not an appropriate place, she said.

 

"I feel that our neighborhood is a residential neighborhood and not for a business," Ryder said.

 

She presented a petition signed by a dozen residents on the street opposing the day care center. The road is one of the narrow ones on Pontoosuc Lake, has limited sidewalks in the winter, and already sees traffic for access to the town beach. Now, she says there will be even more traffic from parents dropping their children off and turning around, and then deliveries of supplies.

 

"That external issue as far as being disruptive, it is not just visual, there are noise levels and traffic issues," Ryder said. "It changes my life a little bit. It changes my neighborhood a little bit. And the way I read the zoning, it is not supposed to be there."

 

One of those neighbors opposing the day-care center is chairman of the Zoning Board of Appeals Ronald Tinkham. Tinkham also served on the Planning Board when new zoning bylaws were passed.

 

"I believe the law is clear and I believe our zoning bylaws are clear. Businesses are not allowed in a residential zone," Tinkham said.

 

The owner of the property in question is Board of Selectmen Chairman John Goerlach. He stepped away from the board during the discussion Monday, taking a seat in the audience, but continued to debate the issue.

 

Goerlach argued that a day-care center is a home occupation, that there are plenty of others operating in town the same way, and that the town shouldn't be stopping somebody who is enterprising to make ends meet.

 

"A family of 20 could move in there and it would be way worse," Goerlach said.

 

Ryder responded, "I don't begrudge them for trying to make an income." But, at what point do its operations become a nuisance to the residential areas? 

 

"I was looking to live in a residential area and not a commercial area," Ryder said, also at another point saying, "I believe there are plenty of other sites in town that are vacant and available."

 

Tinkham said residential areas are quiet and controlled and the year-round business has operational hours and is taking money. That's a commercial enterprise, he said.

 

"We are talking about a business with daily operational hours. A business where you are taking in money and making money," Tinkham said.

 

Barbara Hassan also crafted the zoning bylaws and runs a realty business out of a Main Street home and she says she is limited to just a sign. If she put a playground up and had groups of children in it, that would exceed the limits for home occupations, she argues. 

 

"A day care is as close to a home occupation there is, as long as it is limited to nothing more than a sign out front," Hassan said.

 

Hassan says the bylaws need to be much more clear to address the issue. Meanwhile, Selectman Robert Ericson said there are plenty of businesses being run out of residential areas throughout town. If the town starts clamping down on those operations, many people will be put out of work.

 

"It has been the nature of our town to allow that. We've been loose about it, maybe to a fault, but we try to accommodate the turns and twists of our residents in their lives," Ericson said.