MAYOR'S UPDATE:
WEEK ENDING JANUARY 6
Happy New Year! I hope everyone’s holidays were enjoyable and restorative as we forge ahead into an exciting 2023.
Thanks to everyone who attended this week’s Annual Reorganization Meeting, with a special shout out to the many volunteers who were appointed to serve on this year’s Town Boards and Commissions – we are very grateful for your time and dedication to help us improve Westfield.
I also want to thank the many residents who came to express their opinions on the One Westfield Place proposal, and today I want to reiterate the available resources on this very complex and important topic so that everyone has an opportunity to inform themselves.
Anticipated Immediate Next Steps
January 11 Facebook Live / 6:30 pm: Streetworks will present modifications to their proposal based upon feedback received through their interactions with residents as well as the input and questions this Council has heard directly. The Town’s Finance professionals will provide a follow-up to last month’s Finance presentation and answer questions that have been received since that initial presentation. The live presentation will be recorded so it can be viewed at your convenience.
January 17 Town Council meeting / 8:00 pm: Streetworks and the Town’s Planning and Finance professionals will be presenting to Town Council the updated One Westfield Place project and financial structure.
January 19 Facebook Live / 6:30 pm: Town and Streetworks planning professionals will review and answer questions regarding the updated planning and design aspects of One Westfield Place.
January 31 Town Council meeting / 8:00 pm: The Town’s planning and legal redevelopment professionals will provide a presentation to Town Council introducing the One Westfield Place Redevelopment Plan (RDP) Ordinance which would enable the zoning for the project. The Council will refer the RDP to the Planning Board to assess Master Plan consistency.
February 6 Planning Board meeting / 7:30 pm: Redevelopment Plan will be presented to the Planning Board who will determine if it is consistent with the Master Plan.
February 14 Town Council meeting / 8:00 pm: Public hearing and vote on the adoption of the One Westfield Place Redevelopment Plan if the Planning Board affirmed consistency with Master Plan.
The adoption of a Redevelopment Plan is the first step in a lengthy process. A vote on a Redevelopment Agreement detailing the project specifics and designating HBC | Streetworks Development as the developer would follow, with subsequent votes required on the financial agreement and bonding, as well as eventual full site plan review and approval by the Planning Board.
Updated FAQs
We have recently updated the FAQs with more detailed financial information in response to new questions we've received, which you can read on our website (scroll to the Financial Overview tab). There are also new items in the other tabs related to parking, traffic, school impacts, and the illegality of a referendum.
Additional Online Resources
On our website, you’ll also find links to the following resources:
In addition, Streetworks has launched an Instagram page for One Westfield Place – please follow them on social media to learn more about details of the proposed project.
And lastly, in addition to the wealth of detailed information, we’ve also created a simplified document, called One Westfield Place: At a Glance, to help consolidate the details, which is pictured below.
Embracing ChangeAs I mentioned on Tuesday, many are using the blanket term “overdevelopment” to characterize One Westfield Place in absence of being informed on the details and the facts. I can appreciate and empathize with the legitimate fear of change, but implore our residents to educate themselves about this project in order to better understand the opportunity it presents to preserve our downtown and stabilize and potentially lower property taxes over the long-term.
Let me share with you what residents said when the Hahnes (now Lord & Taylor) department store was being contemplated in 1962:
“I seriously question whether Westfield will remain the kind of town we know it to be if Hahne's is to attract great numbers of shoppers from the surrounding communities.”
“Will the convenience of shopping at Hahne's compensate for the increased traffic congestion which must result?”
We all know this story concludes with our community still mourning the loss of Lord & Taylor. Unfortunately, the 1962 development of the Hahnes parcel was the last significant investment in our downtown, but it wasn’t for lack of trying.
In 1999, the Downtown Westfield Corporation submitted a Downtown Improvement Plan to the Town Council and Planning Board, citing the need to improve traffic and pedestrian safety, as well as establish a long-term blueprint for the downtown to ensure its economic vitality and to manage future growth. Recommendations included development of the Lord & Taylor employee parking lots, the evaluation of every municipal parking lot for mixed use redevelopment in collaboration with private developers, and the redevelopment of the South Avenue corridor into a more pedestrian friendly commercial corridor to include structured parking and office buildings. “The residents of the neighborhood near South Avenue and the shoppers in the area deserve better,” the report states.
You know what happened next. Other than a few streetscape improvements, none of the recommendations were acted upon, and instead we’ve experienced an exodus of employers and retailers including the closure of Lord & Taylor. And the Southside still doesn’t have the business and pedestrian corridor it deserves.
One Westfield Place is not overdevelopment. It’s a long overdue worthy investment in our downtown to make up for the lack of investment for the past 60 years.
Providing Fact-Based FeedbackOnce again, I want to truly thank everyone who is taking the time to educate themselves about the details of this proposed development. The most important thing you can do before providing your input is to hear the facts directly from the experts. Ensuring these facts are available to the public is a shared top priority between this administration and Streetworks.
For those that have taken the time to learn the facts, and still object, thank you – sincerely. We want to hear your specific concerns, and your suggestions for addressing them, and ultimately we may just agree to disagree. And that’s okay. But reacting to such an important topic without full information is not only unproductive, but also hinders our ability to incorporate your feedback into the proposal if you are making assumptions based on feelings and not facts.
I’ll close by reiterating my request from Tuesday night and ask the public, and particularly the uninformed who have expressed a blanket objection to this proposal, to perform your civic duty and review the incredible amount of material that has been released about this project with an open mind and submit your comments and suggestions accordingly. We sincerely want to hear from you.
Wishing you a wonderful weekend!
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