Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.
Date: 10/5/2021
WEST SPRINGFIELD – Mayor William Reichelt’s 2021 Economic Development and Relief Legislative Package was recently completed after the Town Council approved the final piece.
In January, Reichelt submitted a package to the council, consisting of a variety of proposed legislative amendments aimed at providing economic relief to residents and businesses that were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, along with encouraging economic growth and development.
Reichelt shared that his goal with this package was to take a lot of the current issues and place them all together. Although this was submitted as a “package” he understood that the council would take each proposal up separately and at their own leisure.
A number of the proposals made by the mayor were amendments to the town’s zoning ordinance. These were created with the intent of relieving some obstacles that new businesses face when opening or relocating to West Springfield.
Amendments as listed in the initial package included off-street parking, the addition of single and two-family dwellings to allowed uses in business districts, expansion of exemptions to site plan review, etc. “Among the amendments to the zoning ordinance were changes to the site plan review process, adding “doggie daycares” as a permissible business use, relaxing parking requirements in the Central Business District and allowing more mixed business/residential uses in certain areas,” read a press release.
Additionally, he proposed an exemption to personal property taxes of $10,000 in an effort to help struggling small businesses. The Town Council passed this, as they did with all other proposed amendments.
"I am excited that all of the proposed changes have been adopted by the Town Council,” added Reichelt. “I am grateful to the members of the council for their work on passing these legislative amendments to provide relief to residents and businesses and to also encourage economic development and growth in West Springfield.”
Reichelt plans to propose another legislative package to the Town Council in 2022.
“2022 will be much larger in scale,” he said. Reichelt predicted that this will incorporate zoning ordinances on a greater scale – which will take the town over the next five years. He informed Reminder Publishing that he will likely make this proposal when he begins his new term as mayor.