EAST LONGMEADOW – In the wake of decisions made at the Dec. 18 Planning Board meeting, East Longmeadow residents who are against an adult store coming into town may be in luck. At the meeting, the Planning Board decided on a small area in the Industrial Garden Park for a proposed Adult Store to set up shop, potentially deterring current and future applicants from coming to town.

Adam and Eve of Greenfield owner and applicant for an Adam and Eve East Longmeadow Scott McGregor told Reminder Publications that with the constraints the East Longmeadow Planning Board is enacting on their amendment to the adult use bylaw, he doesn’t foresee his store entering the town.

“I’m not going to put my store in an industrial park. It’s not practical,” McGregor said.

Following a series of Public Hearings, at the Dec. 18 meeting the Planning Board looked over a geographic information system (GIS) map of the town, which highlighted a 1,000-foot barrier from schools, town owned parks, churches and residential areas. This left a section of the town’s Industrial Garden Park open for a potential adult-use store to function under special permit.

“What I like about the Industrial Garden Park is that nothing will be visible or in the direct path of any other residential properties adjacent to,” Bushnell commented at the meeting.

McGregor said that by sticking his business in a location that isn’t visible to passersby, it’s keeping up with the stigma that adult stores have surrounding them.

“The town has never even looked at my store. There are other Adam and Eve stores in mainstream shopping centers. We’re a destination, boutique store,” McGregor said. “A new Adam and Eve just opened up in Oklahoma, I haven’t been but I’ve seen pictures. The place has chandelier’s hanging from the ceiling.”

McGregor said he wanted to come to East Longmeadow to draw from the town’s upper middle class residents as well as the surrounding towns upper middle class and upper class citizens. Additionally, he noted that he already has residents from surrounding towns who travel to his Greenfield location.

Though the Planning Board votes on the amended adult-use bylaw on Jan. 2, prior to the vote McGregor already lost interest in coming to East Longmeadow. McGregor stated he’s now looking to Pittsfield for his second location.

“They [Pittsfield] do have bylaws similar to the ones in Greenfield, it’s nothing near what East Longmeadow is trying to do,” McGregor said.

Still, McGregor wishes that he could have opened a business in town to prove to citizens that his stores are not what he feels they’re making it out to be.

“It’s a shame that they are so close-minded,” McGregor said.

The East Longmeadow Planning Board will vote on Jan. 2 on the amended zoning bylaw to reflect the provisions they’ve sent forth. Then, the bylaw will go to the Town Council.

For more information on the Dec. 18 Planning Board meeting, go to https://www.thereminder.com/localnews/eastlongmeadow/planning-board-designates-area-for-adult-use-store/.