Regional Compact Off To A Slow Start
Last June, two high-ranking state officials announced a new state initiative to evaluate the MetroWest region's most pressing needs and recommit state and federal funding for the most important projects.
The plan, announced by Greg Bialecki, secretary of state Housing and Economic Development and Jeffrey Mullan, secretary and CEO of the state Department of Transportation, was to do a one-year study that would give state and federal officials a roadmap of key projects in the region.
Since then the program, named the MetroWest 495 Compact, has gotten off to a little bit of a late start, according to planners involved with the process.
But the state recently awarded a more than $300,000 contract to the Metropolitan Area Planning Commission in Boston to begin work on the compact. Recommendations on the most pressing needs for the 37 communities involved are expected to be finalized by the end of the 2011.
The Central Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission, based in Worcester, and the MetroWest/495 Partnership, which has offices in Westborough, have also been selected to help out with the work.
Developing Priorities
This by no means will be the first study of the area and its regional needs. But local planners say it is an important one nonetheless.
"The thesis within this project is to identify our priorities and see what gaps in infrastructure there might be that are constraining development," said Vera Kolias, a principal planner with CMRPC. "And what we're finding, in our early conversations, is that some of the biggest problems are not just with roadway infrastructure."
The topic may not be exciting, according to Adam Ploetz with the MetroWest/495 Partnership, but water and wastewater infrastructure could be one of the biggest impediments to development in the region.
Simply put, if a vacant piece of property doesn't have water or sewer connections, it is a major turnoff to developers. There are plenty of other parcels elsewhere in the state that already have those utilities built in and ready to go.
Still Ploetz said it's too early to say exactly what the region's top needs will be; that's what this yearlong study is for.
"Everyone has their own kind of pet issues. I think what this process will do is really galvanize the region on the vast number of improvements that are needed and really boil them down to which are the most important for the region and the state," he said.
Being able to show that a project has importance to the regional and state economy, Kolias said, is the key to attracting funding from the state and federal governments.
The program was originally supposed to take one year and be complete in June 2011, but it has been extended to December of this year.
When Bialecki announced the compact in June at the MetroWest/495 Partnership's annual meeting, he stated at the time that he doesn't expect the study to yield any new funding for projects. Bialecki said the study is simply an effort to see which projects should be funded first under the current allocation models.
Developing those priorities will be done in a handful of ways, according to Kolias. Kolias and MAPC officials have already begun meeting with the 37 communities involved in the study. Those meetings have focused on what the current demographics of the communities are and what the biggest needs are for those communities related to economic development.
CMRPC and MAPC will be working to evaluate existing utility infrastructure, traffic patterns and development areas.
The main focus of the MetroWest/495 Partnership's role, according to Ploetz, will be an outreach program that will begin in the spring and continue into the fall. It will include forums where local business leaders, municipal and state officials can provide input on what they would like to see be the top priorities in the region.
From there, a study will be developed and it is expected to be delivered to Bialecki by the end of the year.
Communities involved in the study are: Acton, Ashland, Bellingham, Berlin, Bolton, Boxborough, Foxborough, Framingham, Franklin, Grafton, Harvard, Holliston, Hopedale, Hopkinton, Hudson, Littleton, Marlborough, Maynard, Medfield, Medway, Milford, Millis, Natick, Norfolk, Northborough, Plainville, Sherborn, Shrewsbury, Southborough, Stow, Sudbury, Upton, Wayland, Westborough, Westford, Worcester and Wrentham.
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