Recently, NAPA Auto Parts completed construction of a new store in Hampden. It is a one-story, corrugated metal building with a shallow pitched roof. It looks like an overgrown garden shed. The architectural style would look more at home in an industrial park than in the center of the village. How, you may wonder, did that project get approved?

Several months ago, the Hampden Planning Board proposed rezoning the business zone properties along the east side of Route 1A, from the Route 9 intersection south to the Future Foods shopping center to Village Commercial. Village Commercial is the only type of “business” zone that has architectural standards. The Town Council vetoed the rezoning, claiming that the change would place too much of a burden on new businesses. When the NAPA Auto Parts project came before the Planning Board, the board had no choice but to review it under the existing business zone standards, which do not require that new buildings be consistent with the architectural style of their surroundings.

So, if you dislike the new store as much as I do, be sure to let the Town Council know. Especially, Councilors Arthur Jones and David Plowman, who adamently opposed the rezoning. Kevin Ingram Hampden