After months of debate, the city of Fall River, Mass. now seems poised to develop its defunct 160-acre municipal airport into a commercial/industrial park, a move expected to create some 1,000 new jobs.
Already, Main Street Textiles, one of the city’s largest employers, has announced plans to build a 600,000 square-foot factory there that will generate about 600 new jobs. The decision on the property’s use now rests with the city council, which must approve the proposal to use the parcel for commercial/industrial space. It will need a 6-3 majority to pass.
Seifert Systems Invests in Energy Efficiency to Strengthen Operations
For manufacturers, energy is more than just another operating expense. It plays a critical role…
Learn More
If it is approved it will end a long-running saga. The city closed the failing airport in February of 1995. Since then the Pawtucket Red Sox and New England Patriots have allegedly both considered the site. In May, a majority of city voters voted favorably in a special referendum to build a bingo parlor there, but that majority was insufficient to pass the measure because it was less than the 15,000 votes that it required.
In response, Mayor Edward M. Lambert Jr. in June appointed a task force to study the area. On Oct. 29, the 12-member committee issued its response: Transfer the parcel to the Fall River Redevelopment Authority, an economic development group created by the state Legislature. The authority would work with the city Office of Economic Development to market and develop the property.
For this to happen, the city council must vote to amend the existing urban renewal plan the redevelopment authority created for the airport last year. The five-man authority, appointed by the mayor, had called for developing a bingo parlor on site.But the council, voting in October of last year, could muster only five of the six ‘yes’ votes needed to approve the plan. A subsequent petition drive that led to a special referendum to overturn the council decision failed this summer.
The airport’s development has been hotly contested for good reason: It is the city’s last large piece of developable property. That triggered the task force, which consisted of city councilors and representatives from the public and private sectors, to recommend that the land be turned into a commercial/industrial park.
“One of the big weaknesses the city has is a lack of developable land,” said Nicholas Christ, senior vice president of Citizens-Union Savings Bank and chairman of the task force. “There is no inventory.”
Which means no place for businesses to grow. The property sits adjacent to the Fall River Industrial Park, whose companies employ some 3,000 people. The problem, however, is that the park will be built out in two years if current building trends continue, said Barry Robbins, president of the Greater Fall River Development Corp., the nonprofit group that developed the park.
Making the airport space available to business, therefore, could well mean the difference between gaining and losing jobs. For example, Main Street Textiles, which, along with Quaker Fabric Corp. of Fall River, employs more than 3,000, would likely have planned to build its new plant in North Carolina if it were not for the task force’s recommendation, said Kenneth Fiola Jr., executive vice president of the office of economic development.
Indeed, there is a certain amount of urgency to develop the park, Christ indicated. “There are a number of local companies who are positioning themselves for growth,” he said. “Their growth will occur whether it’s in Fall River or somewhere else.”
The property, however, has its problems. Only about 105 to 110 of the 160-acres in the property are developable. It needs $3.4 to $4.6 million in infrastructure improvements. And while much is made of its direct access to Route 24, there is concern that the highway access will have to be improved to handle the additional traffic.
The task of obtaining grants to pay for infrastructure improvements belongs to the redevelopment authority, which, because of the enabling legislation which allowed cities to create them, is able to develop city parcels without the constraints of the state public bidding law, Chapter 30B, which obliges municipalities to accept the lowest responsible bidders.
This gives the authority the ability to move quickly — and control which companies move in. The latest airport proposal, however, would prevent the authority from selling the land to companies looking to build casinos or a landfill. In many communities, redevelopment authorities have been the principal economic development agent. The problem is that that never happened in Fall River. And because federal funding has dried up in recent years, the Fall River Redevelopment Authority has been dormant. In that time it has been criticized for its inaction.
The task force’s recommendation to transfer the land to the authority, therefore, had two purposes. One was to take advantage of its freedom from Chapter 30B; the other was to re-capitalize — and re-energize – the authority itself.
“I think there’s a lot of misconceptions about what the agency is all about,” said City Councilor Alfredo P. Alves, noting that some councilors have expressed doubt about its abilities. “I think they need a big public relations campaign to explain to the citizens of Fall River what the Fall Redevelopment Authority is all about.”
Authority representative Robert Levesque was unavailable for comment. The task force’s vote was not unanimous. Two members voted against it, saying the city should instead look to sell the land — through the public bidding process — to the Greater Fall River Development Corp. Supporters of this idea point to the corporation’s successful development of the industrial park.
But other committee members noted that the redevelopment authority — unlike the development corporation — is legally required to invest the profit it makes from the sale of the airport land in Fall River. Though the development corporation has a history of investing in the city, they note, it is also free to invest elsewhere.
Yet it’s also time for the city to help the redevelopment authority re-assert itself, Fiola said. He noted that the authorities have the power of eminent domain.
“If you look around the state there are many very active redevelopment authorities,” he said, citing those in Worcester, Boston, and Chelsea. “A properly-managed and utilized redevelopment authority can be a tremendous asset for any city.”
For now, however, Lambert and city officials are looking to secure one asset: the new Main Street Textiles plant, which they say will be an excellent draw to the area and will complement the existing industrial park.
“Because the industrial park is filling up so fast, we definitely need more industrial land, and the airport is the perfect (site),” said Robert J. Boisselle, president and chief executive officer of the Fall River Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc.
“It’s going to do a great deal for the city in (terms of) creating new jobs, as well as keeping the people of the area employed.”
