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Date: 10/2/2015
WEST SPRINGFIELD – Though it’s been more than a year since the Merrick and Memorial Neighborhood Study was completed and released by the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission (PVPC). Mayor Edward Sullivan said it is not collecting dust.
“When we get these plans or studies in West Springfield, we don’t put it on the shelf when administrations change or when mayors change. We use this as a living breathing document to see where we started, where we’re at, and PVPC helps us with this,” Sullivan said. “We don’t just take these things and throw them on the shelf. We actually utilize them and the information that’s in there because there’s some valuable information that helps us make decisions.”
Doug Mattoon, the director of planning and development, said the study has been a guide for his department in speaking with businesses in the neighborhood and future projects.
“It’s a nice resource. It has all the data. It has traffic counts and plans and target areas that we use as we move forward in our day to day activities,” Mattoon said. “It’s been helpful. We have a lot of goals and aspirations ahead of us, and we try to accomplish those that we can as quickly as we can to again facilitate what PVPC’s recommendations are and what our master plan for the town’s recommendations are and what the mayor’s goal is to keep that as a vibrant section of town.”
Mattoon said there are a handful of major projects that will be in front of the Planning Board in the coming weeks, and the study will be help to determine if the proposed plans match with the town’s vision for the future.
Overall, the Merrick and Memorial Neighborhood Study plays into the overall redesign of Memorial Avenue, running from the rotary to the Morgan-Sullivan bridge that ties West Springfield to Agawam. The town applied for a Mass Works Grant in September to help subsidize the cost to redo the Memorial Avenue and Union Street intersection.
Other improvements that are being looked into include complete streets, which create safe roads for pedestrians and cyclists, lowering the road under the Union Street rail bridge to allow for more truck traffic and a possible turning lane into the Eastern States Exposition to alleviate traffic coming from Agawam.
Though Sullivan said this is thinking “four or five years ahead of actual construction” in terms of the Memorial Avenue redesign, the town is starting to be able to see some of the changes.
“It’s another phase that’s kind of exciting because you can actually see things happen. We’ve got permits and applications coming that they’ve applied for so these projects are going to come to fruition … I don’t want to say it’s a start. It’s another phase that’s been reenergized or jumpstarted,” Sullivan said. “The economy seems to be moving in the right direction, and these developers are moving along with it. You’ll see some of these things change pretty quickly.”
Sullivan pointed to Titan Enterprises on Baldwin Street and 380 Union Street as prime examples of redevelopment that has already started. He said though “folks in this neighborhood don’t think we care” about its development, it receives a lot of attention from the town.
His hope is that as developments come in, a chain reaction will begin, while keeping the character of the neighborhood alive.
“One thing that happens whether we like it or not is that it’s contagious. When the people at 380 Union Street fix up their property, it’s contagious and then it spreads. When the guy at Titan does a fabulous job fixing up his property, it’s contagious,” Sullivan said. “Everybody around you starts fixing up their properties. It’s really a domino effect in a good way, so you have these pockets of rehab and redevelopment and it spreads.
“It’s almost like connecting the dots. These things are all going to come together,” he continued. “You’re going to see a pretty fabulous area of not just West Springfield but of Western Massachusetts over the next five, six, seven years as all these developments continue to grow and rehab.”