ASHFIELD — After hearing another round of arguments both in support of and against the junkyard at 995 West Road, the Zoning Board of Appeals has closed the public hearing on an appeal of the building commissioner’s ruling that the junkyard can continue to operate.
ZBA members heard about two hours of public comment Thursday night after an initial, three-hour hearing on March 26. Having closed the public hearing, board members will reconvene on Thursday, April 30, at 7 p.m. at Town Hall, where they will deliberate and potentially reach a decision.
Attorney John McLaughlin, representing Randy Gobeil who filed the appeal, has argued that Building Commissioner Jim Hawkins’ determination that the junkyard existed before the 1995 bylaw banning them was incorrect and it could not be “grandfathered in” as Hawkins has stated, as it was operating illegally and shouldn’t be considered legal now. Some residents, on the other hand, have raised concerns about potential overreach.
McLaughlin argued that the junkyard has been operating as an illegal business, as there is no business permit. He said he checked the Registry of Deeds and found no such permit for the West Road property.
Sabra Billings, the daughter-in-law of former property owner Brian Dickinson, who transferred ownership of the site to Billings and his son Jason Dickinson, said she is “under the belief that it was never a business,” and that despite the operation being referred to as a business in affidavits, she can “assert that that does not mean it’s an actual business.”
Nancy Marshall, a West Road resident who has lived on the road since 2010 and from 1993 to 1996, said that when she lived there in the mid-90s, “there was not junk, just a couple of cars.” Later on, ZBA member Mollie Babize asked McLaughlin “at what point does a collection of metal … scrap, become a junkyard?”
McLaughlin responded that it became a junkyard when it began to operate as a business, thus inspiring a question over what constitutes a business versus a hobby. Mary Quigley, a member of the Energy Committee who began her public comment by disclosing that she is married to Babize, said she’s known Dickinson longer than she has known Babize, and that she and Dickinson have “never exchanged money.”
“He’s never made money off of what I’ve [given him],” Quigley said.
In response during his testimony, McLaughlin said he sees “why people have sympathy,” and that Dickinson “may be nice in his abilities to help people,” but he argued that it still constitutes a business.
McLaughlin referenced a 2022 letter written by Hawkins. Following complaints from neighbors, Hawkins had ordered Dickinson to clean up the property, because using it as a junkyard violates Sections VI B1 and VI E of Ashfield’s zoning bylaws. McLaughlin said the town “told them to stop,” and that they’ve “been told again and again, ‘You should not operate a junkyard.'”
During questioning from the board, Billings said the first message she and her husband received “was in November of last year.” Regarding the 2022 letter, Billings said she and her husband were not involved at the time, just her father-in-law.
She made note of the November 2025 order from Hawkins that it was his determination that the use of 995 West Road “is a junkyard,” and that “junkyards must be screened from view by natural objects and well-constructed fences.” Billings said it was her understanding that her father-in-law was cooperating with the order and had installed fences.
She added that the items currently at the forefront of the property were hidden before, but that Dickinson is in the process of sorting and storing them.
ZBA member Evan Barth asked Billings what she meant when she said that usage of the West Road property has ebbed and flowed, to which she responded that it’s not a big business operation, and that “the volume of the stuff that [Brian Dickinson] has there changes all the time.”
McLaughlin said it is not up to the ZBA to determine whether the 1995 bylaw is “good or bad; it’s to enforce the law.” He added that if the community feels so strongly about this issue, it only takes 10 voters to get a citizen’s petition article on the Annual Town Meeting warrant. He emphasized his point by saying “this can’t be a hobby … with the amount of people here.”
It was clarified that once the ZBA closes the public hearing, it would have to deliberate and reach a decision on the appeal based off the information that it has already received, and that it would not be able to take anything else into account. ZBA alternate Manfred Gabriel said that, as a non-voting member, he believes the board has “heard from all sides.”
“I don’t think if we continue the hearing we’ll hear something substantial or new,” he said.
McLaughlin had raised a question earlier in the hearing about Gabriel’s potential conflict of interest as an abutter to the property. Gabriel said that the Selectboard determined he did not have a conflict of interest, and he reminded the audience that as an alternate member, he cannot vote, but he can take part in discussions.
The ZBA voted unanimously to close the public hearing. There was some discussion over whether it might render a decision that night, to which Barth replied that he’d like more time to discuss and deliberate. Chair Mary Fitz-Gibbon concurred.
