WESTFIELD – Mayor Daniel M. Knapik will request the City Council’s approval of a resolution allowing the city to enter into an agreement with the regional transportation agency.
Knapik will submit the resolution to the council tonight seeking approval of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) regarding a joint master plan between the City of Westfield and the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority.
“We need this MOU to let us engage in a dialogue to move towards a joint project,” Knapik said Wednesday. “Right now it’s not a project, but the MOU allows us jointly to do a feasibility study. Then, we would make a decision together.
“Federal rules define how funds are expended for transportation projects, so it’s a PVTA project. That state and federal money belongs to the PVTA, which as an authority, has the ability to act alone to site a transportation facility anywhere in the city,” he said. “Without this MOU, we really have no place at the table.”
Federal and state transportation agencies have committed or earmarked nearly $8 million for an intermodal project in Westfield.
Knapik said the intermodal facility will be a limited part of a larger “multi-use building” that will be privately funded and constructed at the intersection of Arnold and Elm streets.
The federal and state funding will help with the acquisition of property, demolition of existing structures, and possibly with remediation of environmental issues.
“This is the best chance for a significant project with the least impact on local expenditure. I think this is an exciting time in the city,” Knapik said. “There is some urgency, because we have been told time is short to get a project going, because earmarked money could be pulled back as Congress deals with cost cutting and cost saving issues.”
Jeff Daley, city advancement officer, who has been involved in the discussion with the PVTA and will be the city’s representative under terms of the MOU, said there is $400,000 in state funding to finance a market analysis and feasibility study.
“We have made our position very clear,” Daley said. “This is a Westfield project, even though, excuse the pun, the PVTA is driving the bus for the funding”
“The city really wants to focus on commercial development and couple that with an intermodal center,” Daley said. “The commercial development piece will be the larger portion of the project, utilizing a private developer. The state and federal funding will help secure and clear the site.”
The federal government has “obligated” $3.5 million for the project and “earmarked” an additional $3.5 million.
“We have $7 million total in federal funding, but we could stand to lose the ‘earmarked’ funds if we don’t do something soon to get it ‘obligated’,” Daley said.
Daley said the city is looking for a mix-use project that has some combination of retail, commercial office and residential usage.
“We plan to do a feasibility study and a market analysis to see what fits, what’s out there, but there is no commitment on either side to move forward if it doesn’t like the project,” Daley said.
