Industrial zone promises more business for the city

Date: 9/1/2009

By G. Michael Dobbs

Managing Editor



CHICOPEE -- The sale of a city-owned property to the Westover Metropolitan Development Council (WMDC) for $1.45 million will ensure an industrial zone big enough to attract large businesses to the region -- something the city and the region doesn't presently have.

The sale was announced Aug. 25 at Mayor Michael Bissonnette's office by the mayor, Alan Blair, president of the WMDC and City Council President William Zaskey.

The 57-acre parcel will be combined with several others to create a 115-acre of industrially zoned land. The Massachusetts Turnpike, Chicopee State Park and the civilian airport facility form the boundaries of the area.

The funding for the sale came from noise mitigation money supplied to the WMDC by the Federal Aviation Administration, Bissonnette explained.

Blair said the purchase of the land accomplishes two goals. The first is protecting the approaches to the civilian airport and the second is to create an industrial park that, when fully built out, could supply the city in $1 million in tax revenue and one thousand jobs.

Available land in the area's industrial and business parks is at an all-time low, Blair said. This property puts the area in a competitive position, he explained.

Blair said that within the last 12 to 14 months he knows of two companies seeking sites of 20 to 30 acres to erect facilities of 250,000 to 350,000 square feet.

"The region has not been able to compete without that [land] inventory," Blair said.

When the permitting process starts, Blair said the properties will be permitted as flexible as possible to make them attractive to different businesses,

Bissonnette believes that with the economic recovery businesses will seek areas for expansion. The proximity of the location to Interstate 291 and the Massachusetts Turnpike is a plus and Bissonnette said he would consider petitioning the state for an exit directly off the turnpike if the property is developed.

Blair added that searches for new locations also examine the workforce of the area and other consideration that the area does "pretty well" on.

Bissonnette thanked the City Council for its help in declaring the property surplus and therefore moving the sale forward.

Zaskey said the move took an "isolated section of the city" and "hopefully brings the land back to the tax rolls of the city."

"It is one of the greatest moments in the city's history that will define us in the future," Bissonnette said of the purchase.