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Date: 3/30/2022
SOUTHWICK – As a new company makes an informal inquiry into the parcel at the center of last year’s biggest development controversy, prominent opponents of the 2021 Carvana plan say they’re willing to give the new one a chance.
Town Planner Jon Goddard announced at the March 22 Planning Board meeting that Blue Rhino Corp. has inquired about building a facility to receive, recommission and refill propane tanks at 686 College Highway, currently farmland.
Details about what Blue Rhino wants to do are sparse, but Goddard did say that the development footprint would be around 25 acres on the 91-acre parcel, much smaller than the Carvana proposal of an automobile distribution center covering more than 60 acres.
Among those who most vocally opposed the Carvana proposal last year was Southwick resident Maryssa Cook-Obregon, who helped form a group of residents known as Save Southwick to organize protest efforts. She said last week that she will reserve her full judgment on the Blue Rhino proposal while the details are so scarce.
Her initial thoughts, however, were that this proposal, with a potential hazardous component, is more evidence that the Planning Board needs a systematic review process for these types of industrial developments.
“People in Southwick are awake and looking at this Blue Rhino prospect,” said Cook-Obregon. “Diane Gale is trying to work with the Planning Board on the adoption of a new bylaw that invites businesses that respect Southwick’s size, environment and appearance.”
She did say she was happy to see the transparency from the town in disclosing what company is inquiring about the property, something that did not happen at this point in the process when Carvana was making its first inquiries.
“It is a great thing that improvements came from last summer in terms of how things are presented and made public,” said Cook-Obregon. “If that is one of that side effects from last summer, then that alone is worth it.”
Gale has been working closely with the Planning Board to draft new regulations on major development proposals in response to the Carvana proposal last year. Like Cook-Obregon, she said she needs to reserve judgment on the project until more information is made public beyond the size of the development and type of project it is.
Coincidentally, she said, she used a propane or fuel distribution company as an example to Planning Board Chair Michael Doherty in one of their last-minute talks on her bylaw proposal.
“In my 12th hour meeting with Mike Doherty [on March 21] to work out the final details for the public hearing, I used a very similar project as an example, citing the overall public safety of such an operation due to chemicals and fire hazards,” said Gale.
Gale’s bylaw proposal is intended to go onto the Town Meeting warrant May 17. If passed, it may take some time to fully implement. Though the policy could still not be firmly in place, Gale said she hopes the board uses some of the standards they developed together if the Blue Rhino inquiry moves forward and is officially brought before the board.
“Even if presented before the vote on the Major Development Review at Town Meeting in May, nothing prevents the Planning Board from requesting any of the elements of that proposed bylaw as a ‘best practice,’ since the all voted to endorse it now,” said Gale. “I trust that they would if it indeed falls under the thresholds the board has now agreed to.”
Blue Rhino is not expected to appear on the Planning Board agenda in the near future. Goddard said that so far, the company is in “high level talks” with the town about the property.
This article was edited March 31, 2022, to correct the description of Save Southwick.