Holyoke Council Drops Supermajority Requirement, Approves Kmart Plaza Redevelopment Permit

HOLYOKE — May 19, 2026 — Holyoke City Council voted 10-3 to scrap its supermajority ordinance rule and unanimously greenlit a redevelopment permit for the long-vacant Kmart Plaza. The council amended Chapter 2, Section 9 of its Code of Ordinances to require only a simple majority of the 13-member body — seven votes — to pass ordinances, replacing a two-thirds threshold that supporters said had functioned as a minority veto and delayed the city's Municipal Finance Modernization Act. Councillors Sullivan, Bacon, and Graney dissented; Bacon warned the lower bar could make it easier to pass raises for elected officials. In the same session, the council unanimously granted a special permit to Cypress Acquisitions LLC for the redevelopment of the Kmart Plaza at 2201 Northampton Street, with managing partner Don Bouvier of Cypress Equities present in the chamber. The council also approved more than $580,000 in end-of-year police department budget transfers, drawing pointed questions from Councillor Sullivan about late-fiscal-year salary-line raiding, and passed a home rule petition seeking state authority to ban second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides locally.