westwood station

from Boston.com 10/22/09

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/10/22/westw...

This Wednesday, the Norfolk County Commissioners will hold a public hearing on proposed changes to Canton street related to Westwood Station development. According to the Canton Citizen, Canton selectmen will attend and oppose these changes because they lack adequate data about traffic. Traffic data compiled as part of the Canton-Everett-Forbes traffic calming study can be downloaded from here. The full set of documents posted to the Westwood town web site is available here. The Planning Board from Westwood will also attend. Might be worth missing an episode of "So you think you can dance..."

The hearing will be held in the Main Courtroom of the Norfolk County Superior Court, in Dedham, at 7:00 PM on Wednesday, September 30, 2009.

It appears those folks who were so excited about Wegmans coming to Massachusetts and Westwood will have to wait--or go to Northborough. According to this article, Wegmans is still planning to occupy Westwood Station, but not until 2012. Meanwhile, the first store is planned for Northborough's Loop in 2011.

Channel 5 ran this story comparing the booming success around the opening of Whole Foods at Legacy Place in Dedham to the weedfields of Westwood Station. You can't deny the contrast is stark. But before anyone draws too many "lessons" from this, I'd suggest we observe the full impact of Legacy Place and consider this IS what a vastly scaled-back Westwood Station could have been. It is a great shopping center to service the neighboring towns.

The vision behind Westwood Station was much more than that. It was a live/work/play community on a transit line designed to be everything, all-at-once. Bad timing for such a grandiose plan. But while we wait for the economy to turn around, let's watch Legacy Place and think about what would complement, rather than compete against a formula that is working well for what it was designed to do.

Today's Daily News Transcript reports that at the Selectman's meeting Monday, an update from Westwood Station reported that the developer will not be making the full amount of payments as promised. Just a few weeks ago, the developer had "every intention" of honoring the agreement, but the economic realities out there clearly push us all towards bad and worse choices.

Today's Daily News Transcript reports that the town has drafted an update on Westwood Station to be approved by the Selectmen and then mailed to residents at a cost of approximately $1500.

Last week, in response to several residents who had contacted me or posted things here on WestwoodBlog, I inquired about an update from the town and I know it was in the works. We also know, from the Boston Globe article on Sunday that the town "pre-emptively" posted some information relating to Westwood Station which was then ordered removed. So officially, even though everyone is talking about this, there is no official comment from our elected officials other than sparse quotes we read in newspaper articles.

Might I suggest two things:

• Residents do not need a $1500 mailing. This information could be publicized for free by working with the Hometown Weekly and Daily News Transcript to publicize the key points of the communication, then post it on the town website. There is always this idea that because some residents don't have internet access, the website is not adequate...but the consequence of that thinking is that no update is done at all.
• Residents need more frequent, less official communication with an opportunity to respond. These mailings are like official pronouncements...after the fact...with no opportunity for clarification. Imagine if instead, we had weekly updates from the individuals involved. People are scared to death of that idea, it seems. I'm not completely naive here, but wouldn't it be worth a shot? That could take the form of a weekly selectman's newsletter or just individual selectmen writing short updates here or on their own blogs?

I'm not saying this is "the answer" and I invite people to weigh in here about why they might think I'm right or wrong. That kind of discussion exposes the real issues a lot better than someone carefully crafting an official policy and then broadcasting it to residents or putting together a bunch of talking points in advance to win an argument. Let's talk about how to improve things, not just advocate for positions.

Update: see Boston Sunday Globe for more information about financing difficulties.

The Daily News Transcript provides more details--and the developer's perspective--on the suspension of work on Westwood Station. Key points:

• The payment to the town of  $1.5 million for FY 2010 will not be affected. "That is an obligation that we have every intention of meeting."
• CC&F continues to spend money to keep the project alive.
• Wegmans will probably open in Northborough first--in February 2011. So Westwood will not be the first Wegmans in Massachusetts.

I have a strange sense of deja vu here. My previous employer had money in the bank and enough cash to last through the Spring. The CEO was going to obtain financing in November. When that did not happen, the company did not fold, but the strategy shifted to survival and making do with what they had...which included laying off half the staff. Circumstances changed and the company adapted. It doesn't mean the company won't pull through, but it also means all the reassurances about the future--even when honest and sincere--go out the window when the economy tanks.

So we can debate about the future here and reassess the past with a lot of "what ifs" and "if onlys." Or we can realize that as a political issue of consequence, Westwood Station has been "moved to indefinite postponement." The Planning Board has done their part: the permits are ready to go. The town has done more than their part--holding at least 2 special town meetings where residents turned out in massive numbers to approve measures deemed necessary for the survival of the project. And the Selectmen--while some in town might have criticism--have been tirelessly working to achieve success for the town dating back probably a decade or more in the search for a way to correct the property tax imbalance and secure our future. Nobody failed. But the economy overpowers it all.

It's time to move on. The developer may be back "in the Spring," but what Spring? I guess it will be years before anyone is buying a six pack at the Westwood Wegmans. In the meantime we have plenty of other issues in town and who knows when the economy will pick up? I hope we can focus on the future, not rehash the past. We can't assume when Westwood Station will become a part of that future.

The BOS have submitted Article 11 in response to I-Cubed and other state funding options for CC&F.

Article 11.  Westwood Station state funding – possible support for an application by the developer for state infrastructure funding.

Excerpt of I-Cubed:
For example, a developer would pay the debt service on infrastructure improvements through a betterment on the property until such time that the new space is occupied. The state would pay the debt service for the remaining life of the bonds once the project is occupied consistent with the expectations provided in a feasibility study. And the host municipality would absorb any shortfall in the debt service payments if the developer fails to deliver the project, or the feasibility study expectations are not met.  The local contribution may be enforced by the state by deducting the amount from that community’s share of local aid.

Click for I-Cubed definition.

Cause for concern: Westwood could be in greater financial trouble if CC&F fails to deliver. WWS is on hold for 2009 as posted in an earlier thread and reported by the BBJ.

We need to attend the FinComm Public Hearing and ask the tough questions related to I-Cubed and other funding options that has an immediate impact on Westwood.

 /JL

According to an article in the Boston Business Journal, the Westwood Station project has now been suspended until at least September. The project is not dead, but lack of financing means development is in a holding pattern for now. Retailers have not backed out of lease commitments, but, like much of the economy today, everyone is waiting for things to improve before committing to anything new.

An article today in the Canton Citizen paints a very different perspective on Canton's dismissed lawsuit and end of parliamentary maneuvers over the Wegmans bill, with the Selectmen boldly claiming they are winning in their battle against Westwood Station. It appears what has really happened is that Canton hopes to share in the $50 million of I-Cubed money that CC&H will apply for. But the I-Cubed money opens a can of worms in that it exposes towns to the potential to have to reimburse the state if the development project fails to provide the tax revenues predicted.

Is the I-Cubed idea just political cover for Canton's Representatives to untangle themselves from the mess they created in the legislature--a drama that involved outbursts of profanity and rudeness that went unchecked in the House, but was quickly squashed in the Senate? Or is there a creative solution here that could give Canton a stake in this project--albeit at the risk of having to quickly change gears from opposing Westwood Station to helping make it work so the Town of Canton does not have to repay their share of the infrastructure money to the state? Yes, that's right, if the development project fails to generate the advertised tax revenues (that would be used to service the loan from the state for the infrastructure) then the community where the project is located is left holding the bag.

"Where the project is located" is a key phrase there...and I am not certain if it means the development project or the infrastructure project, but I'm thinking the latter. As crazy as the idea of Canton suddenly becoming a proponent of Westwood Station sounds, it is more likely than Westwood Selectmen agreeing to effectively guarantee a loan to build a potential bridge to nowhere in Canton.