HATFIELD — A general contractor that handles residential and commercial construction could move its offices from downtown Amherst to a new building on a commercial parcel on Church Avenue.

The Planning Board this week received an overview of the plans for Teagno Construction Inc. to construct a 2,000 to 3,000 square foot office building at 6 Church Ave., a property where the company already stores equipment in a portion of a large barn it rents from property owners Mandy and Andrew Black. Andrew Black runs Prestige Plumbing and Heating from the site.

“What we’re doing is consolidating,” said Daniel Dones, senior project manager at Teagno.

Dones explained that the current offices are in a commercial building at 228 Triangle St. in Amherst, but that “we have horrible parking and we’re getting overrun by students and dormitories.” Dones said logistically it makes sense for operations to have the company’s 20 to 25 employees work from the same location.

The property was rezoned from residential to business at annual Town Meeting in May 2023.

Planners informed both Dones and Mandy Black that a determination of any impact on wetlands resources and a Conservation Commission review should be complete before plans are filed.

Day care for dogs

Meanwhile, a possible day care for dogs is being proposed at 336 West St., in North Hatfield.

Tara Gottlieb of Northampton, who previously worked for the ALS Association of Massachusetts, would be the manager of the business that would be open daily from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m, with the dogs mostly kept indoors, except for a few hours in an outdoors space.

“We found this location which is perfect because it’s in a commercial zone and doesn’t have immediate neighbors,” said Brian Gottlieb, Tara Gottlieb’s brother, explaining that it could have one or two grooming stations for the 10 to 20 dogs. Two employees would be there at all times with the dogs, he said.

Such a business is allowed by special permit, with a kennel permit also needed.

The site, near where Depot and Mountain roads intersect with Routes 5 and 10, has been in commercial use for many years.

Members of the board appeared receptive, with Chairwoman Stephanie Slysz saying it’s exciting to see something happen with the property. But she cautioned that the board will have to see what abutters say and what sort of conditions would need to be put on it.

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com