The intersection of College Highway and Tannery Road, Southwick, near the site of a proposed Carvana facility. (HOPE E. TREMBLAY/THE WESTFIELD NEWS)
AGAWAM- The Agawam City Council will consider a resolution July 12 at the Agawam Senior Center to formally oppose the proposed Carvana project at 686 College Highway in Southwick.
The agenda item falls under “New business” and was submitted by Councilors Rosemary Sandlin and Anthony R. Suffriti. The resolution says that Agawam will be “significantly impacted due to the increase in traffic as one of the primary routes to and from the facility will include Route 57 and the Feeding Hills Road intersection.”
The resolution also notes that the Feeding Hills intersection was recently reconstructed and would receive “greater wear and tear based on Carvana traffic.”
In the three Planning Board public hearings that have taken place in Southwick, representatives of Carvana and R. Levesque Associates, the land surveyors attached to the project, said that Carvana would be making use of trucks that can carry up to nine vehicles in order to make deliveries to retail locations.
Councilors Sandlin and Suffriti did not return a request for comment by press time.
Rob Levesque of the land surveying company R. Levesque Associates shows the crowd at the June 29 Southwick Planning Board hearing the details of the Carvana site plan and application on the projector screen in the Town Hall auditorium. (PETER CURRIER/THE WESTFIELD NEWS)
Should the resolution pass, the Agawam City Council will forward the resolution to Southwick’s Planning Board. The Southwick Planning Board is scheduled to meet July 20 for a public hearing on the Carvana project. They have been considering whether to grant general contractor Brinkmann Constructors a special permit, site plan approval, an earth excavation special permit, a wellhead protection district special permit, and a stormwater permit.
The most recent Southwick Planning Board meeting June 29 drew hundreds of residents who largely opposed the project and ran for four hours, causing it to be continued to July 20.
A Southwick Planning Board agenda for July 13 had been posted on the Town of Southwick website, which included an item discussing 686 College Highway and a proposed business sign. The item did not name Brinkmann Constructors or Carvana. Planning Board Chair Michael Doherty said that the item was written with that address in error, and was actually supposed to say 587 College Highway, which is further down the road from the parcel Carvana is seeking to develop. The agenda item lists the address as a “Business Restricted Zone,” while 686 College Highway is “Industrial Restricted.”
He said the agenda would be amended to reflect the real address Friday afternoon. The incorrect agenda had already been posted on Southwick’s Facebook forums.
The City of Westfield’s City Council voted July 1 to monitor the Carvana project, with many city councilors concerned about the potential impact the project will have on Westfield.
The councilors opposed the vote to monitor the project, saying that one community should not interfere with the business of another community.
