Page 13 - BusinessWest September 1, 2021

Southwick
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burden.”
One company, Carvana, proposed
to build a 200,000-square-foot facility off Route 10 and 202 in Southwick. Car- vana is a website that allows consum- ers to buy used cars completely online and have them delivered to their home. The $100 million facility would have stored, repaired, and cleaned cars for delivery across the Northeast. Carvana projected the Southwick site would have employed 400 people and paid $900,000 each year in property taxes to the town.
The project was initially approved by the town’s Planning Board and Select Board, but hit a snag when a local group called Save Southwick strongly opposed the facility. In a series of public meetings, the group cited concerns about safety, traffic, and bur- dens on the town’s infrastructure. As the project became more controversial, Carvana withdrew its proposal this summer.
To kill the project that late in the process was frustrating for some, but Fox looks at the Carvana situation as a learning experience for everyone involved.
“It became clear from
a vocal group that if a project is too big, they won’t support it. Even those opposed to Carvana learned how government works, so if that encourages more civic engagement, then we’re all for it.”
“It became clear from a vocal group that if a project is too big, they won’t support it,” Fox said. “Even those opposed to Carvana learned how gov- ernment works, so if that encourages more civic engagement, then we’re all for it.”
Stinehart said the town is currently developing a new master plan that includes a process to allow earlier citi- zen input on zoning decisions to avoid episodes like Carvana in the future.
“The idea is to have these discus- sions sooner rather than later when we are considering a project,” he explained. “This also gives citizens an opportunity to learn more about the laws and the process of getting things done.”
Responding to a Crisis
When the pandemic struck last year, Southwick was still able to keep the town’s services running.
“All our departments in town con-
tinued to provide services and got us through the height of the pandemic by being flexible and adaptive,” Stinehart said.
The Town Hall building where many municipal functions are located remained open for most of the pan- demic. Like towns everywhere, South- wick relied on remote online plat- forms like Zoom for meetings when necessary.
In March 2020, Southwick was one of the first communities to hold a town meeting outside. Because Southwick has an open-meeting form of govern- ment, Fox explained, a town meeting was held in the Southwick High School
Russell Fox (left) and Karl Stinehart say Southwick benefits
from its recreational amenities, but needs commercial and industrial development as well.
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COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT
SEPTEMBER 1, 2021 13
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