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East Longmeadow touts record 10-year growth

Date: 5/9/2011

May 9, 2011

By Chris Maza

Reminder Assistant Editor

EAST LONGMEADOW — Welcome to East Longmeadow, the fastest growing town in Western Massachusetts.

That's right; East Longmeadow has shown a significant rise in population from 2000 to 2010 — 11.5 percent, which is one of the highest rates in the state, according to Town Clerk Thomas Florence.

According to town census data outlined in the 2010 Town Report, East Longmeadow's population grew from 14,100 in 2000 to 16,187 in 2010.

"There are a lot of reasons why people would want to move into this town," Florence told Reminder Publications. "It is a great community that has a lot of different things to offer residents."

Florence cited the diversity of property and zoning in town as a major factor in the town's growth, as well as its single tax rate.

"We have a very nice split of commercial and residential property, which is approximately 20 percent commercial and 80 percent residential," he said. "As far as people moving into town, I think they see this as a place that is good to live in and do business in."

Location could be another factor in the town's rapid expansion.

"East Longmeadow is in close proximity to a lot of metro areas, whether it be Hartford, New York or Boston," Florence said. "That is a very attractive feature for a lot of residents."

East Longmeadow has room for further development, unlike other suburban communities in the Greater Springfield area.

Town officials in Longmeadow and Wilbraham have recently told Reminder Publications that the potential for development in those towns is dwindling. According to Longmeadow Selectman Mark Gold, Longmeadow is approximately 98 percent built up, while 80 percent of land available to build on has been used in Wilbraham, according to Building Inspector Lance Trevallion.

"Longmeadow is pretty landlocked, whereas we still have room to build, so it's possible that when people are looking to build and want to stay close to the area, they're taking a look at East Longmeadow," Florence said.

A "pretty good mix" of age demographics has been involved in the expansion of the town's population, he added, but said the dramatic increase in interest in new housing developments suggests that a younger population is finding East Longmeadow to be an attractive place to live.

With an influx of younger people into the town comes a higher demand on the School Department, a situation Superintendent Gordon Smith said he keeps a very close eye on.

In the early 2000s, the town saw a dramatic spike in population, which led to the addition of modular classrooms at Meadow Brook and Mapleshade schools.

Smith said keeping class sizes and student-teacher ratios within acceptable levels is a consistent challenge for the district, especially during the summer.

"The summer months tend to be the time when more families move into town because the school year is over and they want to be settled before the new year begins," Smith said. "It can be a challenging time frame to gauge what the needs of the district are going to be and what the numbers are going to look like."

With the summer of 2011 approaching and Florence projecting the growth to continue for "at least the next couple of years," Smith said the district is in a satisfactory position.

"We're in pretty good shape right now. In the early grade levels we're below that ratio of 23 students, which is kind of our benchmark," he said. "We get a little tight in the middle school in our core classes. Looking at it in terms of class sizes, if we could add an adult to the classroom and reduce the ratio at the middle school level, we would like to do that. But it's a challenging fiscal time and we have to see what we can do and look into creative ways to assist our staff and students."

The expansion of the town has also presented its challenges to public safety.

"With any increase of population there will generally be an increase in calls for service from the Police Department. This continues to be true," Police Chief Douglas Mellis said, pointing out the town's public safety officers have responded to an average of 1,214 calls per year, including an average of 617 for car accidents and 1,197 EMS/Ambulance calls.

Traffic remains a concern as the town's population grows, especially in the area of North Main Street and the rotary, Mellis added.

He also pointed out the town has recognized the increased needs of the police and has approved the expansion of his department by two officers, bringing the total police force to 25.



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