WESTFIELD – The Planning Board held a public hearing on Tuesday for a 45,000 square foot building expansion and additional parking for Cadence Aerospace, also known as Tell Tool, at 35 Turnpike Rd. The expansion is to make more room for 20 employees recently hired and to accommodate 30 additional employees anticipated to be hired over the next six to nine months, bringing the total to 150.
“The business seems to be going pretty well,” commented Rob Levesque of R. Levesque Associate as he presented the plans. Tell Tool specializes in complex machining, assembly and testing for aeroequipment. The products produced by Tell Tool Operations include: fuel and hydraulic manifolds, hydraulic actuator housings, control surface cylinder assemblies, according to the Cadence Aerospace website.
Tell Tool General Manager Rick Brighenti said the business volume of the company has been growing at over 30% this year, and they need additional space. In response to a question, he said the volume of extra trucks in the expansion would be marginal.
Levesque said the building expansion would be behind the pavilion and wooded area in front of the building, and additional parking would be in the rear, requiring a new curb cut to the left of the property for trucks to gain access to parking. He said there will also be new stormwater management on the site
During questions of fact, Barbara Rokus of Lockhouse Road introduced herself as a neighbor, and requested 8 foot stockade fencing be erected in the northeast corner to prevent blow over of leaves and debris from landscapers, and trash from the dumpster on windy days into her property. Rokus said she has spoken to the landscapers several times.
Levesque said the stockade fence wasn’t required and wouldn’t work for blow over. He also said the dumpster is being relocated to the rear of the new building expansion. Brighenti said he would speak to the landscapers himself to make sure. Vinskey said the ordinance does require a 20 foot buffer, but added that all of the abutting properties are industrial zoned, despite use of one as a farm.
“I realize you don’t have to. Part of that property is not all industrial, part of it is agricultural,” Rokus said. Rokus also spoke later in support of the project for three reasons; that they employ students from area trade schools, that there will be little impact from additional trucks, and that they remain “good neighbors.” She said the business has built out the way it should, starting small, and that following each expansion, “they have remained a good neighbor.”
Also speaking in favor of the project were Ward 1 Councilor Mary Ann Babinski and City Advancement Office Joseph Mitchell.
Babinski spoke several times, noting that the business is not situated over the Barnes Aquifer or in the Zone 2 recharge area, but that it is over an aquifer. “We want people to pay attention to surface water,” Babinski said, including what goes on lawns. “We hope that our businesses will pay attention, and help us protect our aquifer, and (employ) any measures to take care of water runoff,” Babinski said.
Levesque responded that the company is environmentally sensitive, state of the art and a low level emitter of hazardous waste. He noted that the existing stormwater management is being upgraded in the plan.
Vinskey said the ordinance does require review of any and all stormwater management, as well as hazardous waste storage.
“We take the safety of our employees and the environment very seriously,” Brighenti said. He said potential hazardous waste is captured in marked containers and disposed of offsite per Department of Environmental Protection regulations. He also said the company recently underwent a random DEP audit with satisfactory results.
In speaking in favor of the expansion, Babinski said she wished to tell the project “good luck.” She said knowing that the largest aquifer in the city is on the north side, that she hoped they would be a “model company” to other businesses in protecting “what is beneath our feet.”
Mitchell called Tell Tool “a great corporate neighbor,” one whose name is on the back of baseball and softball jerseys, that is undergoing significant corporate expansion. He said precision manufacturing is seeing tremendous growth that would happen elsewhere if not in Westfield. He also said he and the Mayor recently toured the company, and met two Westfield Technical Academy interns while they were there.
“In summary, I’m for it, and I hope you’ll move it forward,” Mitchell said to the Planning Board. With no one to speak against the expansion, the Planning Board closed the public hearing and voted to approve the Special Permit, Site Plan and Stormwater Permit.
