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Date: 1/25/2023
WEST SPRINGFIELD — Neighbors who spoke at a public hearing on rezoning a parcel on Whitney Avenue were unanimously against the proposal, but the Planning Board has given it a positive recommendation and the Town Council plans to vote on Feb. 6.
More than 50 audience members packed the council chambers at Town Hall on Jan. 17 to protest Pyramid Co.’s request for a zone change for the nearly 18-acre property at 711 Whitney Ave., near the Holyoke city line. Pyramid, which owns the Holyoke Mall, plans to sell the land to a New Jersey-based developer, who has said he will build a 162-unit “luxury apartment” complex. The current zoning, Residence A-2, does not allow apartments. Under the proposed zoning, Residence C, an apartment or condo complex could be built with a special permit from the Planning Board.
Neighbors told councilors that they don’t trust Pyramid or an out-of-town developer, don’t want more traffic on an already heavily traveled street, have concerns about public utilities and the burden on local schools, and worry that sooner or later, the “luxury” apartments will become low-income housing and bring crime to the area.
Fred Connor, a resident of nearby Overlook Drive, said apartments would “alter the character of the neighborhood” and raise “concern about crime and drug trafficking and other problems you associate with subsidized housing and transient apartment dwellers.”
A.J. O’Donald, a Holyoke lawyer and West Springfield resident, called the project “a masquerade party at best,” predicting that developers will not be able to attract high-end tenants to this development.
“We live in New England,” O’Donald said. “What goes on in December to March? Winter. What do these plans not have? Garages. That’s not ‘luxury’ to me. What are you going to do, go downstairs, shovel off your car, turn it on, go back inside and hope it doesn’t get stolen while you’re inside? … I’m from Holyoke, and [this plan] looks like the Whiting Farms development next to J.P.’s Restaurant, where we’ve had a lot of problems.”
Bill Rogalski, a West Springfield resident who ran the Holyoke Mall for several years and is now a consultant for Pyramid, said vehicle traffic to the mall has declined in the past 20 years, as shops have closed and more consumers use online shopping. He said this project could include improvements to Whitney and Highland avenues, as negotiated with the Planning Board during the special permit process.
“We’re willing to participate in fixing the traffic problem,” Rogalski said. “We understand it’s a highly traveled road. We want to be part of the solution.”
Rich Sypek, an attorney for Pyramid, said the developer has agreed to cluster his buildings on the north side of the property, closer to the mall and away from the houses on Highland Avenue. The project would also include a perimeter fence.
A fence “does nothing to deal with noise that would be coming out of from that place,” particularly after leaves have fallen in winter, countered Bruce Buckley of Bonnie Brae Drive. He also said Pyramid should do a proper traffic study, and present facts, before asking for a zone change.
Sypek predicted the apartments, of which two-fifths would be one-bedroom units and three-fifths would be two-bedroom units, would be attractive to young professionals without children, and to retirees. He drew boos from the crowd when he said the Sisters of Providence, a Catholic religious congregation that operates the nearby Providence Place and Mary’s Meadow retirement communities, is opposing the project to keep a competitor out of its backyard.
“They talk about how much impact they have on the community,” Sypek said. “When it comes time for a high-end, nice project directly abutting their project, they don’t want it. Keep in mind the motivation.”
Anne Chapdelaine, chief operating officer for the Sisters of Providence, said their senior living communities don’t see an apartment complex as “competition.” What they do fear is that “the already overburdened road will be overwhelmed” by additional traffic.
She also said the parcel in question is a filled-in quarry, and questioned whether it is safe to support large apartment buildings.
Other residents said despite Pyramid’s prediction that the apartment complex would serve mainly childless couples, it has the potential to add a burden to the town’s public schools.
Town Council President Edward Sullivan said he will reopen the public hearing at the Feb. 6 meeting and take additional testimony from town residents, but asked that those who spoke at the Jan. 17 meeting not speak again, unless they have different points to make. Additionally, he said, those who have submitted comments in writing do not have to speak at the public hearing, as their letters and emails are already considered part of the testimony that councilors will review before their vote.
The Planning Board on Jan. 18 voted 4-1 to recommend the zone change. Member Susan LaFlamme was the only “no” vote. She said traffic is already a problem on Whitney Avenue, and she can’t support a zone change that allows higher-density housing until there’s a plan in place for roadway improvements.
Other members of the board, led by Chair Frank Palange, said that they also have concerns about adding a large apartment complex to the neighborhood — including automobile traffic and the effect on water pressure and water supply — but that these would best be addressed during discussion on whether to allow a specific project, not general discussion on a zone change.
“This is only a step towards, in this case, a possible project,” Palange said. “They could get a zone change and never move forward with the project. The project could change.”
Planning Board votes on zone changes are only advisory. The Town Council will decide whether to change the zoning. If an apartment project is formally proposed, the Planning Board will have the authority to issue or deny a special permit, which will include a new public hearing.
Speaking at his board’s Jan. 18 meeting, Palange said approving the zoning, and starting a dialogue with the developer about the project, may be the best way to address the problems abutters have with their neighborhood.
“If nothing happens with this property, nothing will improve over there,” Palange said. “The traffic, the sidewalks, everything will stay the way it is. But if we move forward with some sort of project, whether it be this one or something else, we have the opportunity to ask for sidewalks, ask for whatever … asking for some traffic study, asking for some help with the intersection, whatever it might be.”
He added: “We’ve got a better chance of fixing these issues with somebody else’s money than with town money. If this gets shot down, I don’t think we’re going to, in two months, be talking about all sorts of traffic lights and fixing a place that’s been a mess for 20 years. The only shot we have for getting it somewhat better is some sort of project.”
At the same meeting, Planning Board member Jayson Lacasse said using the Pyramid land as an apartment complex is likely to eliminate at least one problem. Having “more honest people” living on what is currently a vacant parcel would discourage illegal dumping, he predicted.