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Date: 7/27/2022
WESTFIELD — With the Westfield Data Center back in the news due to activity on the state level, Mayor Michael McCabe said he has been in touch with the Servistar Realties, and has spoken to Jeff Daley of WestMass Development.
“Overall, I think it’s a terrific thing for our community,” McCabe said, citing economics, labor, taxes and decent jobs for people as benefits of the project. He said the downside will be an uptick in traffic from 40 full-time workers when fully built out, and construction workers during the 10 years leading up to its completion.
The project received a boost on July 14 when the House of Representatives adopted an amendment to its economic development package filed by state Reps. Michael Finn, D-West Springfield, and Kelly Pease, R-Westfield, providing economic incentives to support the $2.5 billion hyperscale data center being developed on Servistar Industrial Way in Westfield. The legislation allows for a sales tax exemption for qualified data centers that meet certain economic criteria.
The Senate took up the question on July 21. According to Gabriel Adams-Keane, communications director for state Sen. John Velis, D-Westfield, like many pieces of legislation, the Data Center tax incentive was not a part of the Senate’s final version, as it was already in the House version.
Adams-Keane said it often happens that amendments are filed in only one house. Because it was part of the House bill, the Data Center tax incentive will be considered by the conference committee appointed to reconcile the two versions, and Velis will advocate for it throughout that process.
“The Data Center coming to Westfield will benefit our entire region’s economy and bring good-paying, sustainable job opportunities with it,” Velis said on July 22. “We need to ensure that those jobs are then getting filled by the working folks throughout our communities. Westfield has the resources and unique positioning to help this partnership flourish, and I am thrilled that the Data Center, like so many other businesses, have recognized that potential.”
McCabe said there are some things he would have liked to change about the agreement that Servistar Realties negotiated with former Mayor Donald Humason Jr. He said detractors will talk about what they’ll be paying per square foot in property taxes.
But with what he called the technology-driven revolution, McCabe said the Data Center will help move Westfield forward and also help Westfield-Barnes Regional Airport, and with a minimum carbon footprint.
“It falls in very nicely with the economic development plan. It’s a pretty cool thing for the city,” McCabe said.
Asked to comment on another large project before the Planning Board, Target’s 525,000-square foot distribution center on North Road and Falcon Drive, McCabe said he would hold off to see whether it gets through the state and local permitting processes.
McCabe said his focus is on economic resources and jobs for the city. He said he is doing what he can to positively impact the projects that are coming to Westfield. For one, he is trying to get the state to rebuild the entire corridor of Routes 10-202 at the Massachusetts Turnpike exit.
He said Target has also proposed its own mitigation plans for increased traffic at the intersection of North and Southampton roads.
This spring, McCabe put a priority in his first budget on roads, increasing the portion of the city budget for road repair from $400,000 to $3 million, which, added to Chapter 90 and other grants, will mean approximately $5 million for road remediation in the coming year. He said “stay tuned” for a list of roads to be fixed.
McCabe said having the list ready is one of the advantages in getting the city’s budget done early. He said he had the budget completed and ready for City Council review on May 5.
He also said he had an advantage in having worked on a city department budget for years, being the one to present the Police Department budget to the mayor at budget time.
“I’m pretty lucky. One of the learning curves I didn’t have to go through was learning City Hall; I pretty much knew it,” said McCabe, who was elected to his first term as mayor in November 2021.