The former American Red Cross Westfield Chapter building. (File photo by Frederick Gore)
WESTFIELD – The Our House project proposed by Domus, Inc, to convert the former American Red Cross Westfield Chapter House on Broad Street into single-room resident units for homeless high school students, has been approved for funding by several state agencies as well as the city.
Domus offers affordable housing to low- and moderate-income families, the homeless, and the mentally and physically disabled in nine housing buildings around the city, and sought Planning Board approval of a site plan to establish a 10-bed facility for homeless teen students at the Broad Street building which has been vacant since the Westfield Red Cross Chapter moved up the street to St. John’s Lutheran Church.
The project is to convert the former Red Cross Chapter building by constructing 10 single-room residencies (SRO) in the Broad Street facility, as well as building an addition onto the existing structure. The facility would have several common areas to provide support services and counseling, as well as teaching life skills to the student, such as cooking, diet, budgets and finances. There will be an apartment for a resident supervisor in addition to the student housing.
The Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation (CEDAC), in December, awarded Domus a loan for $189,644 to finance its “Our House” project.
That funding will enable the organization to purchase and begin renovations to a vacant two-story historic city building which will provide housing for homeless teens in the city. The organization also received an additional $83,650 in funding for technical and pre-development services, including consultants, architects, and surveyors.
The Westfield Community Preservation Committee also earmarked $80,000 of city funds for the $1.4 million project. That CPA funding was appropriated by the City Council on Feb. 10, contingent upon further state funding through the state Department of Housing & Community Development.
Domus Executive Director Ann Lentini said Monday that the Department of Housing & Community Development approved the funding on March 25. Domus is waiting for notice to proceed with construction from the state and that the required financing is in place.
“We’re just waiting for the letter that the requested funding is available and that we can start working on the project,” Lentini said. “It’s been one of the best received projects we’ve had in the city. People understand that we really need this kind of facility, this type of housing.
The renovation project was approved by the Planning Board in February, but there has been a change to the original site plan by the Westfield Water Resource Department.
The housing facility must be serviced with a fire suppression system, fire sprinklers, which require a larger water line than the existing water line to the building, which is either a half-inch or three-quarter-inch pipe. The Planning Board urged Domus to find an alternative water supply without having to cut into the recently rebuilt Broad Street or sidewalk.
Mark Reed of Heritage Surveys Inc. of Southampton addressed that issue of providing fire protection for residents of the building.
“There is an eight-inch water main into the Lumber Center and the owner is willing to grant an easement to make a connection along the grass buffer, so there is no need to cut into Broad Street or the sidewalk,” Reed said.
Reed said the present water service to the building “Has been in there for some time and the interior (diameter) may be less than that (because of sedimentation) so the pressure is not adequate to serve all of the uses in the building,” Reed said. “We are in the process of preparing a site plan which will be provided to the Engineering and Planning Departments.”
The Water Resource Department recommended tying the building to a four-inch water line connected to a fire hydrant in front of the building, eliminating the need to connect to the eight-inch Lumber Center line.
“We did the same thing for the Five Guys restaurant for the same reason: the road had just been paved,” Water Superintendent Dave Billips said. “In both cases the water main is on the other side of the street and they would have had to trench to install a new line, which the (state) Department of Transportation (DOT) wouldn’t allow because of the new pavement.”
“If they have to cut (the pavement) it could have killed the project,” Billips said. “So we’ve done this before.”
