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Date: 7/26/2021
SOUTHWICK – Carvana’s withdrawal from Southwick was met with applause in the Southwick Regional School auditorium July 20 after nearly two months of protest from residents.
Though the outcry only began about two months ago, the story of Carvana’s inquiry into Southwick began much earlier. The first inkling that somebody was seeking to develop 686 College Highway came during the Jan. 5, 2021 Planning Board meeting. Alan Slessler, the town planner at the time, gave his normal report at the beginning of the meeting, with his first item being an announcement that he had received an inquiry about the property.
“Over the past couple of weeks, we have had a lot of inquiry into the Griffin Land Trust, 686 College Highway,” said Slessler in his Jan. 5 report, “It’s 91 acres. They haven’t divulged what they are going to be doing, but it is probably going to be similar to what was proposed before – a large commercial use.”
He said they had scheduled a meeting for Jan. 20, which he called a “kick-off” meeting. Slessler said the company that made the inquiry wanted to remain secret until “they have everything in order.”
In the written meeting minutes for Jan. 5, it says “the water moratorium may create a potential problem.”
Slessler gave the Planning Board an update on the inquiries during the Jan. 19 meeting. He said he took part in a Zoom meeting with town officials on the Griffin Land Trust, though he said he did not yet know what the intended use would be. He noted the meeting he had scheduled for the following day, Jan. 20 would feature town department heads, as well as police and fire officials to discuss what the usage would be.
On Feb. 9, he said that the company had been doing surveys of the site, looking at the sewage and water connections, as well as other utilities. Slessler did not indicate whether or not he knew what the interested company was, nor did he directly reference the Jan. 20 meeting.
The next reference to what would become known as the Carvana project was the March 16 Planning Board meeting. Slessler said in his report that he had received additional questions about the property from the interested party, and they would be seeking site plan approval and a special permit “as early as the beginning of April.”
On March 30, Slessler referred to the project for the first time as “The Baily Project,” the pseudonym given to the Carvana project to protect its identity until it was ready for public hearings. He said that they had requested an informal hour for the April 13 Planning Board to give the board more specific details about the project.
On April 13, Robert Levesque first appeared before the Planning Board to give details about The Baily Project. Carvana Project Manager Jenn Roldan, Andrew Lucas from Brinkmann Constructors, real estate Lawyer Richard A. Sypek, and Jessica Alan from R. Levesque Associates were also in attendance to discuss the project.
Levesque showed a Google Earth image of the property, as well as the initial renderings of what they were seeking to develop the property into. Though they did not identify themselves as Carvana, this is the first time that the project was acknowledged to the Planning Board as being a used-car processing facility for an online vehicle retailer. Levesque said no vehicle sales would have taken place on the property. He said that traffic would have gone from Tannery Road to College Highway, and that a traffic signal would need to be constructed with the company’s assistance.
Lucas said during the informal meeting that the facility would use less than 10,000 gallons of water per day. Select Board member Douglas Moglin said at the end of the informal hearing that he thought that the project was “a great economic development for the town” as it would bring more than 400 jobs and could mitigate existing traffic problems with the addition of a new traffic light at the College Highway and Tannery Road intersection.
He said that the Select Board had been involved with preliminary discussions with Project Baily, Brinkmann Constructors, and R. Levesque Associates.
“It is a suitable use for the zone. It has access to the sewer. The mitigation around the issue at Tannery and College Highway is a good proposed solution to solve both the issue the town is facing with traffic that is already at the threshold for that light, and the work that is needed to service that intersection with other future development coming in there,” said Moglin during the April 13 Planning Board meeting.
On April 27, Slessler said during his Planner’s report that Project Baily had been added to the May 25 Planning Board agenda as a public hearing.
Though the public became aware of the name of the company at the May 25 hearing, that was not the first time it had been identified in a public meeting. On May 19, the Economic Development Commission (EDC) met and informally discussed the project. EDC Chair Michael McMahon identified the project as Carvana.
During the May 25 public hearing, some residents asked questions about how the project would impact the rail trail or abutting properties. Levesque said that use of the rail trail and upcoming roadwork on Tannery Road would be interrupted for a short time, but that the facility itself would not have an impact.
Southwick resident Cynthia Marshall expressed concern that the project may not be legal under the town’s bylaws, the first indication of a resistance to the project. Marshall would later become involved with the Save Southwick group. The Planning Board continued the public hearing to June 8.
Reminder Publishing published the first article identifying the project as Carvana on May 27, which prompted strong reactions against the idea of the Carvana project.
The June 8 hearing was the first time a group of residents expressed specific concerns about the project, and verbally opposed it. Residents were concerned about impact on traffic, the amount of water usage the facility would require, and the size of the asphalt lot.
On July 12, resident Kevin Meder created the “Keep Southwick Green No Carvana” Facebook group, which quickly filled with people opposed to the project. It was there that much of the work of the group that would later be known as Save Southwick took place. It is where they planned the multiple Town Hall rallies and the fundraisers to pay for the legal counsel.
It was also in this group that some misinformation about the project spread, and where Planning Board and Select Board members were the recipients of written attacks and unfounded accusations.
Ultimately, the project was withdrawn without prejudice by Carvana just hours before the July 20 hearing, the fourth that would take place on the project. Though the project was withdrawn, Save Southwick has indicated that the work is not complete. They have indicated that the next steps involve trying to re-zone the parcels Carvana was seeking to develop, so that it is no longer industrial-restricted.