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Date: 11/20/2015
CHICOPEE – Mayor Richard Kos addressed a special City Council meeting on Nov. 16 to brief councilors on several allocations of funds to continue the work demolishing and redeveloping the Uniroyal property they would be considering at the Nov. 17 regular meeting.
The council passed those allocations.
A sum of $350,000 was approved to pay for legal and technical talks with Michelin.
Michael Vedovelli, director of Community Development, explained to the councilors Michelin has inherited the assets and liabilities of Uniroyal and has been in longstanding talks with the city about the cleanup of the site.
“There has been great progress over the last year and half,” he said.
He explained the discussions now are “really getting into the technical weeds” and additional funding for the city’s side of those talks is needed.
Kos said the city is seeking a $1.5 million contribution for the demolition of the lower tier of building. And will be meeting with Michelin later this month.
An additional $300,000 is needed to finish cleaning up asbestos from buildings eight and 13. Hazardous material is currently stockpiled on the site and must be removed.
Thirty thousand dollars was approved for the preservation of building 26 and 27, which was described to the councilors as a possible site for a parking garage. The funding would pay for the preparation of the bid documents and the environment reports for seeking bids.
Kos said that while Michelin is supplying some funding for the remediation of the property, the city is responsible for supplying other funds for redevelopment. Lee Pouliet, the city’s planner, was praised for his multiple successful efforts in securing Environmental Protection Agency grant funds.
The mayor said one opportunity the city has is to use the area between the dike on the Chicopee River and site of demolished buildings as a landfill for “urban earth,” waste material from construction projects. This material could create $1 million to $2 million in tipping fees that could be used to fund redevelopment and at the same time create a level surface that could be used for playing field or other applications.
When asked to predict when the property would be completely redeveloped, Kos said the estimates are between five to 10 years.
He added, “Unfortunately, every time we go into the earth we find issues that have to be addressed.”
Kos said the Baskin building on the Facemate part of the site has $50,000 in ground asphalt that is valuable to road builders. The city must pay $15,000 in testing fees to make sure they could sell the material.
Kos said there has been some interest in redeveloping the Baskins building into an assisted living facility.
Councilor James Tillotson questioned the expenditures sand said the council was told Uniroyal and Facemate properties would be cleaned and redeveloped with funds others than those supplied by the city by the previous administration.
He asserted it was never the intent the city would “commit a ton of city money” and added Chicopee is now “stuck in the quicksand.”
Kos also told the councilors added a Request for Proposals for another long-dormant city property, the former library, has been issued. There has been some recent interest in the building, Kos said and the RFPs would be due back to the city in December.