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| By Katelyn Gendron Reminder Assistant Editor WEST SPRINGFIELD The Master Plan Committee is looking for answers that will attempt to bring the town into an age of heightened progress by asking residents the soft and hardball questions. The committee has released an online survey for residents to answer a variety of questions throughout 11 categories: Communication, Future Concerns, Youth/Public School, Traffic/Transportation, Housing, Open Space and Recreation, Growth, Economy, Town Services and Personal Information. According to committee member Marco Amato, also the president of the West Springfield Chamber of Commerce, the most "controversial question" on the survey asks residents if Bear Hole Reservoir should be developed? "That question as well as six or seven others was put in there as controversial questions so that people might take the [time] to fill out the whole survey," he explained. "I do not believe anyone [on] this committee thinks we should develop Bear Hole [Reservoir]." The eight-member team appointed by Mayor Edward Gibson in conjunction with Planning Director Richard Werbiskis and a three-member consulting team will attempt to update the town's year 2000 Master Plan while addressing the current status of the town, its needs and a plan of action to achieve those needs. "We're looking to understand existing conditions and provide recommendations on how to alleviate those problems," Kristen Wilson, senior environmental planner at Beals & Thomas Inc., explained. Wilson and Mary McCrann, also a senior environmental planner at Beals & Thomas Inc., and Tracy Adamski, a senior environmental planner and scientist at Tighe & Bond comprise the three-member consulting team for the development of the new Master Plan. Wilson explained that the previous Master Plan contains excessive information on the existing conditions and problem areas but fails to offer comprehensive solutions. She added that the goal is to provide residents and those in town hall with a "working document." Wilson noted that problems currently facing the town include increasing traffic and congestion, the potential need for a new high school and the controversy over whether or not Bear Hole Reservoir should be developed. She said the new Master Plan will offer solutions to problems posed by the committee and residents such as potential locations for new development, funding sources and the reevaluation of town bylaws and underutilized land. "[The new Master Plan] is necessary to keep current with the times and plan a road for the town to follow and a goal of where we should be," Diane Crowell, a Mater Plan Committee member, said. "The goal of the committee is to write a relevant Master Plan for 2008 and to have the administration follow the guidelines and implement suggestions." Crowell noted that the survey, as well as a public forum on July 9 at 6:30 p.m. in Town Hall auditorium, will provide the committee with additional information from residents about issues facing the town and how to solve them. "Ultimately [the goal] is to make West Springfield a better place to live," Amato said. "We would like people who have a choice to choose West Springfield as a place they would like to live." To take the survey visit the town's Web site at www.west-springfield.ma.us. |