Council recommends limited loading/unloading spaces near VCare; ordinance committee to set hours

The Holyoke City Council on May 6 accepted a Development and Government Relations committee recommendation to create limited loading and unloading spaces near VCare’s facility on High Street and referred the matter to the ordinance committee to craft final language on hours and policy.

Committee members heard from VCare representatives and local councilors who described frequent drop-off and pick-up activity by VCare vans and argued the organization needs additional public loading capacity. DGR recommended two loading/unloading spaces with limited hours — Monday through Friday, proposed 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. — and suggested ordinance language to allow public use while prioritizing service providers.

Councilor Devine and Councilor Gibner summarized the committee discussion and said the proposed spaces are meant for public loading and not a private allocation to a single company. Councilor Rivera clarified that the spaces would remain public and that the ordinance committee should decide exact parameters for eligibility and enforcement. “They provide a service to many seniors in the city,” DGR members said when explaining why the request merited accommodation.

The council approved the DGR recommendation that the order has been complied with and forwarded the matter to ordinance to spell out hours and any eligibility criteria. The committee advised that VCare already pays for parking for employees and that on-site parking behind the building is allocated to another agency; fleet vans do not fit in those spaces, the committee was told.

The ordinance committee will draft the exact hours and restrictions as part of a broader discussion about future requests for loading zones and how to apply a policy consistently across the city.