Spilka Aims To Define MetroWest
Bill would establish new economic development district
State planning agencies and municipalities fear that an effort by state Sen. Karen Spilka, D-Framingham, to establish a planning and economic development agency just for MetroWest could hurt more than it would help.
The formation of such an agency for MetroWest would carve yet another slice from an already small state resource pie, and would force an unwanted identity upon communities unwittingly included in the legislation, planners and politicians say.
By most accounts Central Massachusetts has a pretty negative self-image, what with the giant shadow cast by Boston constantly looming overhead.
Further straining that self-image is the fact that a nebulous region called MetroWest continues to assert itself as a separate entity from Central Mass.
Chasing Resources
Spilka says her bill, an Act to Create a MetroWest Regional Planning and Economic Development District, was drafted in response to the area's increasing self-identification as its own cohesive region, and what Spilka calls, "an amazing lack of resources and acknowledgement" of the area's importance.
In the 70s, MetroWest was a largely rural area, with most residents commuting into and out of Boston everyday. Today, Spilka said, the area is home to the second highest payroll in the state and six of the states top 10 publicly traded companies, with a majority of its residents working and commuting in the region, not out of it.
This vital importance of the region should entitle it to a greater share of transportation infrastructure resources. Instead, according to Spilka, it is largely being ignored as a kind of hinterland between Boston and Worcester.
Regional planning for the 30 communities included in Spilka's bill is currently split between the Boston-based Metropolitan Area Planning Council (which covers 101 municipalities) and Worcester's Central Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission (which covers 39 municipalities).
Interstate-495 serves as the line of demarcation between the two.
"We are a powerful region that did not exist in the 70s," said Spilka. "When you look at it, the way it's structured now, I-495 is more like a wall there, it's on the periphery of the two agencies."
Adding a new administrative agency, with all of its associated administrative costs, to the books without further increasing revenue would make tight funding even tighter, said Lawrence B. Adams, executive director of the CMRPC.
"Obviously, they need attention, and (I-495) needs work," Adams said. "We understand their frustration, but it's a frustration we hear from many communities. (Spilka's) legislation doesn't bring in any more money, and a new regional planning authority would do more with the same limited resources. That's really the fatal flaw of creating a new RPA."
Adams said he and his colleagues at the MAPC have recently made a renewed effort to focus on the 495 region, and to work to improve its shortcomings within the current planning structure.
In addition to not bringing in any new funding sources, Spilka's bill also makes the mistake of including some communities that would rather not be included.
Of the 30 communities included in the legislation, Spilka officially represents only six.
Dan Morgado, Shrewsbury's town manager, said his town's opinions on the planning issue weren't solicited prior to the legislation being filed, and said the town would have preferred to have been left out of the legislation.
Regardless if her bill ultimately passes when it is considered early in 2008, Spilka said the discussion raised by its filing and the dawning recognition of MetroWest's importance to the state's economy has already made it worthwhile.
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