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Date: 6/15/2022
HAMPDEN – The Board of Selectmen discussed major plans with several department heads and committees during its June 13 meeting. Among the plans are a government study, creation of a master plan and expansion of the senior center and fire station.
Government Study Committee
Richard Green met with the Board of Selectmen to discuss the direction of the as-yet-to-be-formed Government Study Committee. The committee will study Hampden’s current form of government and issue a report on what should be maintained as well as any changes that would benefit the town.
The committee will need to be composed of volunteers who know how the government currently works, Green said, as well as those who can examine the various aspects and put a report together. He suggested that someone outside of the town would be a good addition to the committee because they would offer a different perspective.
Green, the town moderator, said he will need to recuse himself from the project once the committee is formed so that he can remain independent when the report comes up for acceptance at Town Meeting.
Town Administrator Bob Markel suggested Green enlist the help of the Massachusetts Municipal Association’s Form of Government Committee, which has resources for exactly this type of study.
Master Plan
The Planning Board did preliminary examination of creating a master plan, a task last undertaken 40 years ago. Master plans are blueprints for the goals the town wishes to accomplish in the next five to 10 years.
Planning Board member Jason Barroso said the master plan process involves public input hearings and surveys. A consultant is hired to guide the process, but the work is done by volunteers.
Board of Selectmen member Craig Rivest asked if the current master plan is out of date. Barroso, who had served on the master plan committee in Ludlow when that town reviewed its guiding document, said the problem is more that it is missing important parts.
One example Barroso gave is that Ludlow’s old master plan considered one area the center of town, but the town had organically shifted over time, with businesses building in another part of town.
“What do you think it would cost,” asked Board of Selectmen member Donald Davenport. Planning Board Chair Madison Pixley said the estimates they had seen suggest it would cost about $95,000. Markel said that amount was the lowest estimate he had seen.
Barroso told the Board of Selectmen that the next step would be to put out requests for quotations (RFQs) from consultants. The Planning Board was given permission and Board of Selectmen Chair John Flynn said, “You don’t need us to micromanage you on this.”
Senior Center Expansion
Council on Aging Director Rebecca Moriarty said the feasibility study, finished in late 2021, estimated an expansion of the senior center would cost between $3 million and $3.5 million. An expansion of the parking lot would cost an additional $1.5 million.
“The town is in good shape,” financially, Flynn said.
Davenport asked Moriarty if the new Wilbraham Senior Center would draw people away from the Hampden Senior Center, negating the need for an expansion. She explained that the majority of residents who use the center are from Hampden, followed by East Longmeadow residents and then Wilbraham residents. She did not think Wilbraham’s center would siphon off too many users. She also said that Wilbraham’s new center is slightly behind schedule.
To pay for the expansion, Moriarty expected to run a “capital campaign, approach state Sen. Eric Lesser or state Rep. Brain Ashe for an earmark in the state budget and ask the Friends of the Hampden Senior Center to raise funds.
Before any of that, however, an architectural study must be done to build off the work done in the feasibility study.
Rivest proposed increasing the scope of the project to create a senior center, community center and library in one large building. Moriarty said they would have to build a second floor for that due to the limitations of the land on which the senior center was built.
Markel and Moriarty agreed to work on the next steps together and report back to the board.
The other expansion project that had been, “on the shelf,” Flynn said, is the fire station. While the senior center expansion was simpler, he opined that both projects should be examined to decide whether to move forward.
Stormwater Committee
John Matthews and Andrew Netherwood came before the board to discuss the future of the Stormwater Committee. The Stormwater Committee’s charge is to limit the amount of nitrogen in the waterways.
Flynn asked if the two thought the committee should be “folded into” the Building Committee. Both Matthews and Netherwood said that there is water analysis that must be done at least quarterly that would be out of the scope of the Building Committee.
Flynn noted that it is difficult to find volunteers and floated the idea of the Stormwater Committee being made up of department heads from affected departments, such as the Building Department, Board of Health, etc.
No decision was made on the matter.
Green Communities
The Board of Selectmen took steps toward achieving a Green Communities designation from the state. Markel explained that the designation would net the town an initial grant of between $160,000 and $180,000. After that, the town would be eligible for future grants to prevent or mitigate environment-related issues.
There are five criteria municipalities must meet to be designated. To satisfy the first criterion, which designates locations within the town for the “as-of-right siting” of renewable or alternative energy facilities, the board is considering the creation of a solar overlay district.
The overlay district would be comprised of the land at the Transfer Station that is occupied by the Ameresco solar field and a couple of other town properties on which solar fields already sit. Rivest mentioned that Hampden has more solar fields per capita than any other municipality in Massachusetts and expressed concerns about the amount of land the town can devote to the overlay district. He noted that most undeveloped, town-owned land is conservation area and solar cannot be built there.
Markel assured him that the overlay district would only encompass land that was already slated for solar development and said adding new land for solar would not get approved at Town Meeting.
“The town has already done a lot. We’re not starting from scratch,” said Markel.
The second criterion for Green Communities designation builds off the first, by allowing for expedited permitting for clean energy development within those areas. Hampden would also need to set an energy baseline for what is currently used by municipal buildings and vehicles and then cut municipal energy use by 20 percent over five years. Town vehicles would have to be switched over to electric cars and trucks.
Finally, the town must adopt the stretch energy code, a building code approved by the state that maximizes energy efficiency in new buildings. The board suggested putting this item on the warrant for the Special Town Meeting in the fall.
The Pioneer Valley Planning Commission does not currently have grant funding to cover the cost of its services, Markel told the board. If Hampden uses the organization’s help to apply for a Green Communities designation, it will cost $7,500. However, Markel estimated that if everything went well, the town could be designated as a Green Community by spring 2023.