Council rejects zone change for James Street restaurant
City Council · Meeting of March 3, 2026
Chicopee City Council defeats restaurant zone change on James Street after neighborhood opposition. The proposal, which would have allowed applicant Duy Nguyen of Hudson, New Hampshire to operate a restaurant at 749 James Street by converting the property from residential to business zoning, failed 8 to 5, short of the 10 votes required for passage. Ward 9 Councilor Mary Elizabeth Pniak-Costello and others cited traffic and safety concerns for residents, while At-Large Councilor Joel D.
McAuliffe argued the zone change would eliminate split zoning and increase tax revenue. The council also unanimously approved appropriations totaling $51,753.79 from Free Cash for Uniroyal site litigation support and employee sick buyback.
In the full story:
- The complete report — 516 words
Source: the City Council meeting of March 3, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.
Keep reading with a 14-day free trial
Subscribe to Chicopee News to keep reading this post and get 14 days of free access to the full post archives.
A subscription gets you:
- Subscriber-only posts and full archive
- Post comments and join the community
- 24x7 access to local news