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Date: 2/3/2022
SOUTHWICK – The Master Plan Committee voted unanimously last month to accept the scope of services contract with the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission (PVPC) for the development of a new Master Plan.
The committee’s vote is contingent on a review of the contract during their Feb. 3 meeting, and its subsequent approval by the Select Board. Ken Comia of the PVPC spoke to the Master Plan Committee on Jan. 20 about what their role would be in the Master Plan process.
Comia outlined five main tasks that the PVPC would take the lead on: They would have a representative at Master Plan Committee meetings, collect and analyze data about Southwick and its demographics, develop and issue a survey of Southwick residents and a visioning workshop to hear from members of the public, the development of a housing production plan, and the development of Master Plan goals and objectives.
Comia said data collection is the most important role the PVPC will take, and that they hope to be able to use 2020 Census data, which is being released slowly. They said they hope the data will be fully released by this summer.
The survey is expected to be extensive, and will be one opportunity for residents to give their input on the future of Southwick and how the town is developed over the next two decades. Comia said Master Plan Committee members will need to work with the PVPC to develop the survey and disseminate it to Southwick residents.
In all, the PVPC’s scope of services is projected to cost $45,000. Master Plan Committee Chair Marcus Phelps said that the committee has a total of $50,000 approved. Of that budget, $25,000 comes from Master Plan funding designated at the Annual Town Meeting, and the other half comes from Community Preservation Act funds.
Southwick has not approved a new Master Plan since 1967. Ideally, communities do so about every two decades. A Master Plan was developed by a committee in the 1990s, but it failed in a vote at the annual Town Meeting. Portions of that plan did, however, end up in the town’s planning bylaws. The Master Plan is meant to be a guiding document showing how the town should be developed and planned over the next few decades.