25A-170 �04T
oy
City of Northampton
Law Department
A
MEMORANDUM
TO:
Anthony L. Patillo, Asst. Building Commissioner
FROM: _
Kathleen G. Fallon, City Solicn , ,
SUBJECT:
Farmstand, Damon Road`
DATE:
August 5, 1994 DEP?GF S1JIUMIG 3?ISFE(MONS
You have requested an opinion as to the erection of a stand selling
produce on the "Golden Harvest" property at the corner of Damon
Road and Bridge Street.
The property in question is zoned Highway Business. Currently
located on the property are a restaurant, a take out ice cream
business, and a greenhouse which appears to be a year round
facility. All these uses are allowed under Section 5.2 in an HB
zone. My understanding is that a temporary stand selling produce
has been erected on the property. Section 5. 2 allows a year round
stand selling produce in an HB area. However, a temporary stand
(four months or less in any one calendar year) is permitted in an
HB zone only if the produce being sold therefrom is raised
primarily on the same parcel of land on which the stand is located.
That does not seem to be the situation on Damon Road.
Even if a stand were allowed, it would have to meet all the
dimensional requirements for such use as set forth in Section 6.2 .
That would mean that, in an HB district, a stand would have to be
twenty (?a�; f��t back from the front lot line (the property line,
not the roads ' Also, any signage would have to conform to
Chapter 7 of the Zoning Ordinance.
M.G.L. Chapter 40A, Section 3, does offer limited protection to
farmstands. However, again, the produce offered for sale at the
farmstand must have been produced primarily on the same parcel of
land on which the stand is located. That protection is not
available to the Damon Road site.
To sum up, a year round permanent stand selling produce might be
permitted on the Damon Road property if it met all other
dimensional requirements of the Zoning Ordinance. A temporary
stand is not permitted.