Ward 4 City Councilor George Balakier discusses the residential property proposal for 165. Front St.
Photo credit: ChicopeeTV
CHICOPEE — The City Council approved a special permit and waivers for a proposal that includes adding up to 600 new residential apartments at the former Cabotville Mill building and outbuildings on Front Street.
The Zoning Committee has been reviewing the special application for months at different meetings including most recently on May 28. The applicant is Bridgewater Capital Partners c/o Mark Yunger.
The parcel, located at 165 Front St. and 0 Exchange St., falls under the city’s Mill Conversion and Commercial Center Overlay Ordinance, which allows mixed uses.
During the May 6 City Council meeting, the postponement of the special application was discussed.
Ward 4 City Councilor George Balakier mentioned that at a previous Zoning Committee meeting, John Furman, an engineer, presented the group with the proposed project and waivers.
The committee went back and forth with him, had a few questions regarding the proposal and found a couple issues.
The two issues included overdue taxes and the Overlay District Report Committee report, which was incomplete.
According to Balakier, who also serves on the Zoning Committee, the special permit approval came with conditions the applicant must follow.
The conditions include all conditions of the tax and water bill payment plan agreement dated May 21, 2025, remain satisfied and that the applicant will comply with Chapter 275, Section 9, Subsection A3.
Balakier explained the condition regarding the zoning bylaw. He said, “This is an agreement that the new potential developer, he’s in agreement with regarding the previous document that I referenced, the tax and water bill payment plan agreement.”
The third condition was a satisfactory response from Planning Director Lee Pouliot that all overlay district report committee requirements are met by the applicant
The City Council unanimously approved the special permit application with the conditions.
Besides a special permit application, there were also waiver requests for landscape requirements, parking and noise level.
Balakier said the landscape requirement waiver request was put forth by the developer regarding the site regulations including where dumpsters will be placed, debris and “things of that nature.”
For the parking waiver request, the developer is looking for a parking space requirements reduction to allows for 637 spaces.
Balakier explained, “They were first looking at a figure of 1,200 spaces but basically, from what I recall from the meeting, they felt that that was too many spaces for this particular project, so they were looking for this reduction down to 637 spaces. They were looking at different scenarios and they felt that this could work.”
The third waiver request dealt with noise level because the developer plans to use materials within the residential, commercial spaces that are noise resistant such as cork or rubber.
Balakier stated, “They feel that this noise level might be reduced by using these materials.”
All three waiver requests were unanimously approved by the City Council.
This site has been vacant since all tenants at the Silverback Mills Building, formerly known as Cabotville Industrial Park, were told they must leave the property immediately due to the property being deemed structurally unsafe by Chicopee back in 2022.
There have also been multiple city appropriations in the past year allocated for updated security measures at the building.
According to the city’s attorney, the current owner said they are broke and don’t have any money, so the city has taken it upon themselves to pay for it and a lien was placed on the property.
“The only way to get money for this is to put a lien on the property and wait for it to be sold. There is no other way to force this developer to come up with the money,” City Solicitor Kevin Corridan stated.
Chicopee is obligated to secure the neglected property and Mayor John Vieau has stated in the past few months, “Our intention is to recoup the funds that we’ve been paying as a municipality for security there to protect that asset.”
