SOUTH HADLEY — Voters at this spring’s town election will get the chance to tell officials what they think about the South Hadley Electric Lighting Department’s plans to build a new $35 million to $38 million headquarters building.
The nonbinding question, which the Select Board approved last week at the request of Ron Coutu, is expected to be on the ballot in April.
“I think this is a great idea,” Select Board Member Carol Constant said. “It’s important for the community to be able to get more information, and the process of going to a vote will allow SHELD to explain exactly.”
For the last decade, SHELD has attempted to leave South Hadley Falls and find a new home outside of the 100-year flood plain. The municipal utility bought a couple parcels, including 545 Granby Road, but found the feasible land too small to meet its needs. A proposal for a building on Old Lyman Road failed at Town Meeting previously, and efforts to renovate the former Mohawk building on 28 Gaylord St. were unsuccessful.
In its latest move toward a new headquarters, SHELD is in the process of purchasing a large parcel on Old Lyman Road in the Big Y parking lot where officials hope to construct a 45,000-square-foot building.
During a public information meeting last September, residents expressed interest in a townwide vote on the project due to the cost of the building. SHELD advised the Municipal Light Board against implementing the idea, as legal precedent upholds the board’s authority over utility building projects, SHELD General Manager Sean Fitzgerald explained. However, Ron Coutu, a South Hadley resident and SHELD board member, began independently investigating the possibility of nonbinding question on the next town election ballot.
“It’s a simple thing,” Coutu said to the Select Board on Jan. 6. “I was voted on this board by the voters of this town. This is the biggest thing we’re going to do as this board for the next 30 years. We got some opinions from people at the forum, but again, like any other forum, you only get a handful of the people who come, you do not get the thousands of voters.”
Twelve residents, including Coutu himself, signed a petition to get the question on the ballot. The Select Board unanimously approved the petition.
Resident Joanna Brown asked what education efforts SHELD would take before the vote. While Coutu did not have the exact details, he said the utility is likely to disseminate information on why residents should support the project. He believes the only reason people would vote against the project is because of the impact it would have on rates.
SHELD’s new headquarters building would cost ratepayers an additional 2.3 cents per kilowatt hour, or an average of $16.27 per month. The rate increase would depreciate to an average of $13.14 per month after 10 years, then to $9.92 per month after another decade.
The current SHELD headquarters at 82 Main St. requires $6.5 to $8.5 million in renovations, repairs and code compliance. The municipal organization long outgrew its current space, and leases a building on Ludlow Road for $72,000 a year.
When SHELD brought the headquarters plans to Town Meeting in 2013, the cost was estimated at $12 million, and the modified version of the same building plan today is three times as expensive.
Town elections will take place on April 14 at South Hadley High School from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.