City officials to launch plan for South End community

Date: 12/15/2008

By G. Michael Dobbs

Managing Editor



SPRINGFIELD Residents and business owners in the South End neighborhood will see some infrastructure improvements to their area next year and will get to learn more about them firsthand at a community meeting sometime next month.

Mayor Domenic Sarno announced on Dec. 3 a $3.2 million project to improve the sidewalks and lighting from the intersection of Main and Union Streets to Locust Street.

The project is the first component of a series of steps the city plans to undertake to improve the neighborhood.

Salamid Hogan, project manager in the city's Office of Planning an Economic development, told Reminder Publications the first phase should go out to bid in June 2009 with construction beginning later that summer. She expected the improvements to be completed within three to four months.

"This is just the beginning of a multi-faceted infrastructure project that will transform the South End. Main Street in the South End serves as a primary gateway into our city. Improving the visual quality of this corridor and the front door for the many established businesses on Main Street is essential to improving the overall business climate in the city," Scott Hanson, the principal planner for the city, said.

According to the information about the project on the city's Web site, "Homeowners will be able to enjoy the improvements of the streets, sidewalks, lighting and major upgrades to Emerson Wight Park. New street connections will improve access for public safety vehicles. The plan also calls for improvements and enhanced management for the historic buildings along Oswego, Dwight Street Extension, Bayonne and Niagara and the Springfield Housing Authority Marble Street property. Together with the infrastructure improvements, these changes will improve the quality of life in the South End and potentially increase the property value of existing homes."

Hogan said the total $6.2 million budget would be funded by a municipal bond. The city will also use about $1 million in funding from its annual U.S. HUD Community Development Block Grant and additional monies from three state programs.

The entire project is expected to be completed by 2013.

The city has hired Vanasse Hangen Brustlin Inc. to conduct a traffic study and to produce the construction documents for the first phase.

Hogan did say that plans to develop the site of the former Gemini factory building on Central Street have been "put on hold." She explained that infrastructure improvements must to be made before the city undertakes developing the property.

"We are excited to be moving beyond plans and into the field work," Sarno said. "The South End is important to the fabric of Springfield and we are committed to creating a better neighborhood for residents, businesses and visitors."