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Date: 4/18/2023
CHICOPEE — The Public Safety Committee shared a report with the Chicopee City Council on April 4 regarding disaster preparedness and the one-way street on Old Lyman Road.
Councilor at Large Gerald Roy said the committee met with the Emergency Management Director Glenn Joslyn, Fire Chief Daniel Stamborski and Police Chief Patrick Major to discuss disaster preparedness and what the city had in inventory.
“If there is a disaster of some sort — natural or otherwise — a solar flare, an [electromagnetic pause], a hurricane, a tornado, nuclear attack, chemical or biological situation — we are nowhere near prepared,” said Roy. “[The] responsibility of being somewhat prepared falls on the people themselves.”
To have a better idea on what to prepare for, Roy recommends going online and searching for a Federal Emergency Management Agency emergency kit. FEMA recommends a 72-hour kit with food, water, among other essential items.
“I recommend you get a minimum of two weeks,” said Roy.
Councilor at Large Robert Zygarowski said when he spoke to Joslyn, he posed questions about the city’s emergency plan, along with the schools. Zygarowski shared that they are prepared to evacuate students from the school.
While there is a lot to be discussed on this topic, Zygarowski said Joslyn is constantly working on this and there is always room for improvement.
Old Lyman Road
The one-way street on Old Lyman Road has brought out mixed feelings and responses from Chicopee residents.
Zygarowski said he reviewed documents, including petitions for the road that had 101 residents in favor of a two-way street and 151 residents in favor of keeping it one-way.
He went on to describe this as a “contested” item.
“Our best bet, when we decided on the committee, is that we’d send it to the mayor for a full cost analysis from the DPW as to the cost of widening the road to be presented to the full council eventually,” said Zygarowski.
Ward 9 Councilor Mary Beth Pniak-Costello gave credit to the four department heads who studied this project — Stamborski, Major, DPW Superintendent Elizabette Batista and City Engineer Douglas Ellis.
Currently the street is 16 feet wide, however, Batista indicates that by federal guidelines it should be 22 feet wide.
Pniak-Costello said the Public Safety Committee did a “good job” on this under the direction of Zygarowski, who allowed everyone to be heard at a recent meeting when the topic was discussed.
She shared that the decision of the committee was to have the street remain a one-way street based on recommendations and logic. In the future, the street could be studied to be widened and a full cost analysis from the DPW will be presented to the full council in the future.