On a foggy November morning, a group of regional leaders, known as the trustees for the "Plan for Progress," met in a large circle of tables in a third-floor, glass-walled room at HCC’s Kittredge Center. The trustees are varied: heads of schools, finance industry chief executives, non-profit staff, elected officials and heads of utility companies, for example. After noteworthy presentations by Annie Cheatham of CISA and Daniel Ross of Nuestras Raices, David Panagore, Springfield’s Chief Development Officer, took to the podium.
Panagore’s task was to describe some of the outcomes of the September week-long visit of a volunteer Urban Land Institute panel, whose detailed, written report is now expected to arrive sometime in early February.
He began with a summary of some key aspects of the ULI’s September 29 oral presentation (PDF; panelist Barry Elbasani pictured left), and described the short-term projects the panel recommended the city carry out first: focus on creating activity at the soon-to-be-vacant federal building on Main Street; generate creative thinking for the former Gemini site (pictured below) in the South End, preparing it for infill housing; consider vacant 31 Elm Street for options other than a hotel, perhaps mixed-income housing or office use; and proceed with plans to raze the old York Street jail on the city’s riverfront. (The city’s Office of Planning and Economic Development last officially updated these projects in September, after some months of regular news and photos.)
Springfield South End image courtesy of MassGIS, dated 2005. Arrow points to Gemini site.
Goals the ULI put before the city, Panagore said, were to promote inclusiveness, develop active participation among city residents, reduce crime in all neighborhoods, increase homeownership, and become business-friendly. The city should approach its activities as a master developer would, the ULI panel recommended, working every single day to improve its conditions. Panagore said this approach is akin to the way a mall manager might function, and less of a laissez-faire approach where things are just "let go." The ULI also recommended that the city needs a marketing strategy, which includes a municipal communications plan.
Panagore said that the Economic Development Council of Western Massachusetts will work on creating a marketing plan that places Springfield at the center. "It’s been ‘hole in the donut’ regionalism," he explained. "The paradigm must shift to value the city." He referenced a Brookings Institution scholar who said (PDF) that no thriving economic region exists without a thriving city center. Ours sees a daily influx of 30,000 people. The ULI panel suggested a change in the dialogue, Panagore said, and there was a recommendation that the Economic Development Council and the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission work more closely together to assist with this significant paradigm shift.
Secondary, mid-term projects were also recommended by the ULI, Panagore said. He listed Main Street improvements, the establishment of market-rate housing downtown, increased downtown retail, the resolution of issues with the old Civic Center parking garage (which will likely be sold to the state and rebuilt, as it needs about $4.5 million in repair, and alternate parking is needed during construction); extensive improvements to the State Street corridor, which needs a business market study; continuation of the progress at Memorial Park II on Roosevelt Avenue, where Performance Food Group (PFG) Manufacturing is planning to relocate from its downtown facility; the demolition of the Chapman Valve factory; and readying the vacant downtown Union Station for potential private development.
A downtown housing market study is underway, Panagore said, the implementation of which he described as "reaching over to the business side a little, to encourage development." According to the city’s solicitation for the study, the goal is to provide developers and city officials with information to encourage downtown housing construction, including "opportunities for planning, investment and incentives." Desirable construction is "new market-rate dwelling units, to be added through adaptive re-use of existing non-residential structures and/or new construction."
Consultants at Zimmerman/Volk Associates have shared a few salient points from the study so far. As Panagore put it, the city has a crime problem, and there is indeed a downtown housing market. He added that the police department restructuring, which includes the appointment of three new deputy chiefs each assigned to a specific geographic city district, will lend "solid leadership and accountability" to the abatement of the crime problem.
Panagore said that of the 2600 housing units downtown, 2000 qualify as "affordable housing" and just 500 are market rate. City-wide, affordable housing comprises 17 percent of the stock. "Until the state changes its policy to encourage market-rate housing," he said, Springfield will have a hard time creating more, as there are "no existing state programs" to help the city establish such stock.
Regarding the South End, Panagore described a recent "a-ha" discovery. "The city owns 30 percent of the property between the Gemini site and the Hollywood section [of the South End]," he said, which may bode well for moving property along, or selling sites in bulk. A trustee asked about why the plans for Main Street improvements don’t extend to the South End, beyond Union Street. Panagore, acknowledging the apparent paradox of the improvement plan, replied that the previously-established urban renewal district, which defines the area that can be funded for the project underway, ends at Union Street. The city is working on a land use plan for the South End, he said.
The ULI panel also recommended that Springfield officials work in earnest toward getting the city its fair share of state funding. Panagore described the current situation as one of needing to "work together." The efforts of the community (residents and neighborhood associations), the private sector (business leaders and non-profits), and the public sector (elected officials, city staff, and the Finance Control Board), he said, are all required to create favorable circumstances for the city with regard to state assistance.
At the close of these remarks I imagined the group would give Panagore a standing ovation for juggling so many spinning plates while simultaneously sweeping up many broken ones underfoot. But the trustees were relatively placid. Several suggestions and questions arose. One was that the ULI’s recommendations, and maybe some of the expertise helping Springfield right now, could be applied to other regional cities and towns. To that, Panagore said, "I’m paid to focus on Springfield."
One trustee, a Springfield native who now lives in a suburb, spoke about all the people who used to live in the city but have since moved on to other locations. "How about getting support and ideas from those people?" came the suggestion. Panagore replied that it can be a challenge to locate such people, since it’s mostly anecdotal information and social networks that would help find them. "I can get you a great deal on a house in the city," he offered instead.
