Hadley Planning Board grants two unanimous site plan waivers at January meeting

HADLEY -- January 20, 2026, Hadley Planning Board unanimously approved two site plan waivers and advanced five zoning bylaw changes toward the May 2026 Annual Town Meeting at its January 20 meeting. The board granted a waiver for Wonder, LLC, a technology-driven restaurant concept, to occupy the former Orange Theory Fitness space at 7 South Maple Street, requiring a separate sign permit with dimensions and lighting details showing compliance with the town's 40-square-foot, halo-illuminated-only building sign standard. A public hearing for a new Bank of America branch at 359 Russell Street, where WS Development proposes to replace the 4,300-square-foot former Vision Showcase with a 3,900-square-foot building, was continued to February 17, with four outstanding items: a snow storage plan, natural gas service verification under a local moratorium, fire truck access turn diagrams, and a clarifying centerline stripe on a two-way drive aisle. The board also continued the Piranha Valley Hotel hearing at 41 Russell Street to February 17, with member Mark Dunn pressing the applicant to shift corner windows away from the building's west-facing glass corners, calling the current design inconsistent with Hadley's character: "When someone drives into Hadley for the first time, they're coming down Route 9, and that West facing just doesn't look like it belongs in Hadley." On zoning, the board agreed to advance five articles including a proposal to delete a 75,000-square-foot retail building size cap, a new accessory building definition capped at 350 square feet, and a solar screening amendment, all subject to newspaper publication and a public hearing before reaching town meeting.