Southwick EDC Advances Complete Streets Policy Ahead of April 27 Select Board Vote

SOUTHWICK — April 15, 2026 — Southwick's Economic Development Commission moved closer to a Complete Streets policy adoption and began laying groundwork for a formal Tax Increment Financing framework at its April 15 meeting. The three-member commission — Chair Greg Diley, Craig Shanderson, and Serena Fuller — confirmed that Select Board approval alone, expected at the board's April 27 meeting, is sufficient to adopt the Complete Streets policy and unlock eligibility for grants of up to $1 million, with a November application window as the target. Town planner Alvin reviewed recent MassWorks awards to comparable western Massachusetts communities ranging from $980,000 in Chester to $2 million in North Adams, and described using the state's new One Stop artificial intelligence interface to identify the Rural Development Fund — capped at $500,000 — as a potential fit for a proposed quarter-mile rail trail connector linking the Westfield River Rail Trail to College Highway, estimated at up to $500,000 with no formal engineering figures yet in hand. Town Assessor Randy presented an informal proposal to form an ad hoc committee to draft a TIF policy based on Greenfield and West Springfield models, prompted in part by an unnamed existing business that has approached the town seeking tax incentives for a planned expansion — Wally Computers holds the town's only current active TIF. No formal votes were taken on either the Complete Streets or TIF items; the commission unanimously approved minutes and voted to recommend the town waive its right of first refusal on a roughly three-acre Chapter 61 parcel on Clouse Anderson Road.