This is an architectural drawing of the facade of the 68,000-square-foot facility proposed for construction by WGI, Inc.
Reminder Publishing submitted photo
SOUTHWICK — After WGI Inc. realized it couldn’t meet the requirements of the town’s major development bylaw, which are triggered for any new building over 60,000 square feet, it found a way around it.
The company excluded the square footage of a mezzanine inside the building, moved a planned pickleball court and remeasured the square footage from the interior rather than the exterior.
“We’ve already done things to reduce the size of our building to …under 60,000 square feet,” said Fred Felios, the president of WGI Inc., at the Planning Board meeting on Sept. 8.
The meeting was the second public hearing on the company’s application for a special permit to build a new facility in the town’s industrial park on Hudson Drive and to hire an additional 25 employees over the next five years.
At the first public hearing, the application specified the building would be 68,000 square feet, which triggered the application of the town’s major development bylaw that was approved by Town Meeting after the Carvana controversy in 2021.
As part of the major development bylaw, the applicant must complete a comprehensive impact statement, which documents potential impacts on the environment, water resources, traffic and the local economy. WGI presented that statement in its application.
However, after that first public hearing, Town Planner Alvin Allen determined that the site plan proposed by WGI had more square feet of impervious surfaces, such as parking lots and sidewalks, than allowed by the major development bylaw.
The bylaw mandates that no more than 40% of the project area be covered by impervious surfaces. The impervious surface coverage in the WGI proposal was 58%.
“There was no way to get rid of enough parking to meet that threshold,” said Allen after the meeting, addressed by project engineer Terry Reynolds of T. Reynolds Engineering on Sept. 8.
“We realized once we started looking at how much impervious area [was required] that we were not going to meet that under our current proposal,” Reynolds said.
Planners proposed that the pickleball court be standalone rather than attached to the building, which would reduce the building’s size to about 62,200 square feet; excluding truck docks would reduce it further.
“We realize we’re very close to the threshold for the 60,000 square feet,” Reynolds said, adding that the proposed building was exactly 60,000 square feet.
He said they needed to find a few more feet to get below the threshold.
It sought the opinion of the town’s Building Inspector Joe Meczywor as to whether mezzanines, elevated structures installed between the building’s floor and ceiling, should be included in the overall square footage of the building.
Meczywor researched the question and found mezzanines should not be counted as square footage. He submitted his ruling on the mezzanines in a letter to the board. The town’s attorney was queried on the ruling, and he said that, because it was a town bylaw, the Planning Board could decide whether mezzanines counted as square footage.
“We’re at 59,533 fossil feet, which brings us under the threshold. That would take care of the issue of the 40% impervious area requirement, which frankly I think is inappropriate for the industrial park to start with, but that’s what it is,” Reynolds said.
After the building’s architectural plans were measured from inside the walls instead of the outside walls, the space was reduced by a few more feet.
“Instead of measuring our building from the outside, we measured it from the inside because that’s the floor space,” Felios said.
After a few questions and observations from Planning Board members, Board Chair Jessica Thornton asked for a motion to “make it official” that the special application permit no longer requires an earth excavation permit because no dirt or fill would be moved on or off the Hudson Drive property. The motion was made, and the board approved it unanimously.
The board then approved withdrawing the major development special permit application, with Thornton voting against it.
“The board is satisfied with the plans as presented, provided we receive an updated site plan with accurate representation of the square footage of the building,” Thornton said.
After the votes, Select Board member Douglas Moglin complimented the board on its work and suggested it consider reviewing the major development bylaw, given that it was being used for the first time.
As the public hearing started, Felios spent nearly 25 minutes explaining how his father started WGI in his grandmother’s garage and turned it into a multinational company, and how companies, including his own, make money.
He also said he liked Southwick “because everything was very straightforward, and that’s how I like to run my business. Straightforward.”
The board then closed the public hearing.
Its decision on the special permit will be made at its October meeting.
Earlier this year, WGI Inc. asked the town for a tax-increment financing package, which was approved by Town Meeting, to reduce its property tax burden for a facility on Hudson Drive directly in front of its current location.
WGI has pledged to create 25 new jobs over five years in return for the TIF.
The TIF will be active for a 10-year period with a tax exemption that starts at 90% and decreases by 10 percentage points each year. The TIF will not be implemented until the new facility officially opens.
The overall value of the TIF is $1.1 million based on a tax rate of $15.20, which is the average rate over the past three years.
The tax exemption for WGI, Inc. for the first year will be $242,136. It will drop by 10% each year and end with an exemption of $10,488.
